October Mind

(a Halloween treat)

Leaves rot in dark pools
The trees, robbed of their senses
By rain, turning dull

A gate, on one hinge
Hangs idly from a fence post
It keeps out nothing

Crows call needle songs
Dark hymns to the cracked stone steps
Indifferent to wrong

A time-weary house
Creaks with each gust of contempt
Bearing the winds' loss

By the door, a bell
With no tongue, through the window
One flick'ring candle