All Hallow's Eve

It was cold and eerie on this All Hallow's Eve,

And how I’d got here I could not believe,

But if the truth’s to tell, I think that it’s fair,

I’m in this cemetery because of a dare.

Yes, such was my bravado at old Alfie’s wake;

But here in the darkness had I made a mistake?

For absolute madness it now seemed to spend,

This last night alone with my departed friend.

But what is a man if he’s not true to his word?

And Alfie planted here would have concurred,

For I’m certain ‘twas him instead of me,

Off to the netherworld he’d come to see me.

So that is how we were to be found,

On this moonless night me atop his mound;

The living and dead on this cemetery green,

The two of us sharing this last night between.

Now, what ghoulish thoughts and tricks will play

When angry shadows dance this and that way?

From out of the darkness what evil is flown,

As at the edge Alfie and I wait the unknown?

Till suddenly they appeared out of the gloom;

And I swear old Alfie screamed from his tomb.

And how I got beside him I’ll never know,

But there I lay in that coffin below.

Bloodied and bandaged the living dead walked,

As clinging to Alfie at our coffin they knocked.

“Go away, go away!” I heard Alfie yelling.

But on they came most ghoulish and smelling.

Now the pain of a thousand deaths was mine,

As Alfie I watched queue up in that line.

And a tearful farewell so it was we bid,

Till alone it was just me beneath that lid.

Yes, what better farewell on this All Hallow's Eve;

Where old Alfie now has taken his leave?

And it’s here at last that I’ve come to terms,

For now it’s just me who sleeps with the worms.