Saturday 31 October 2009

Halloween Special: Lady Button-Eyes!


When the busy day is done,
And my weary little one
Rocketh gently to and fro;
When the night winds softly blow,
And the crickets in the glen
Chirp and chirp and chirp again;
When upon the haunted green
Fairies dance around their queen -
Then from yonder misty skies
Cometh Lady Button-Eyes.

Through the murk and mist and gloam
To our quiet, cozy home,
Where to singing, sweet and low,
Rocks a cradle to and fro;
Where the clock's dull monotone
Telleth of the day that's done;
Where the moonbeams hover o'er
Playthings sleeping on the floor -
Where my weary wee one lies
Cometh Lady Button-Eyes.

Cometh like a fleeting ghost
From some distant eerie coast;
Never footfall can you hear
As that spirit fareth near -
Never whisper, never word
From that shadow-queen is heard.
In ethereal raiment dight,
From the realm of fay and sprite
In the depth of yonder skies
Cometh Lady Button-Eyes.

Layeth she her hands upon
My dear weary little one,
And those white hands overspread
Like a veil the curly head,
Seem to fondle and caress
Every little silken tress;
Then she smooths the eyelids down
Over those two eyes of brown -
In such soothing, tender wise
Cometh Lady Button-Eyes.

Dearest, feel upon your brow
That caressing magic now;
For the crickets in the glen
Chirp and chirp and chirp again,
While upon the haunted green
Fairies dance around their queen,
And the moonbeams hover o'er
Playthings sleeping on the floor -
Hush, my sweet! from yonder skies
Cometh Lady Button-Eyes.

*

This is a poem by the American writer Eugene Field.
Field was born in 1850 in St. Louis, Missouri.
Who of us has not hummed
his lullaby, "Little Boy Blue"?

The eyes I am showing you here
stared at me from this little wooden shed
in the vineyards of San Polo in Chianti,
Tuscany, Italy.

Take your broom
Click on the fig above
and fly over to Elizabeth's
in New York City
for more Halloween fun
all over the world at her
"World Examining Works"!

A Happy and Safe
Halloween!



Photographs
© by Merisi

8 comments:

  1. Wow, they really look like eyes. That one pic in particular. That would make a great cover for a horror novel

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  2. They are wonderful eyes! And I enjoyed Eugene Field's poem,too. He also wrote "Wynken, Blinken and Nod," which was one of the poems that sent my brother and I to sleep when we were little...

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  3. Happy Halloween!

    Paz

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  4. This was a particularly magical and spooky post
    such amazing eyes in the trees
    and Italy (sigh!)
    gosh the word verification is:

    devils

    oh no!

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  5. Oh my gosh! I saw that you'd posted 'Lady Button Eyes' and I got so excited. My favorite! I remembered it from last year!
    Happy Halloween Merisi,
    Catherine xx

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  6. Merisi, you've sent spooky magic and beauty out to us, accompanied, of course, by your photos.

    I have never before seen this poem by Mr. Field, and wonder why, since I learned those other poems so long, long ago. Was this one too dangerous?

    May I also thank wonderful Elizabeth for getting many of us in the Halloween state of mind.

    xo

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  7. oooh.. what a wonderful, moody post.

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  8. Fantastic in every way.
    Sue

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