October Nights

The turnip-coloured light

seeping through

arches of holy glass,

lit our path

through dark-red,

evenings of mystery,

until we reached

the demise of October,

and the welcome

lanterns of

Hallow’een.

We walked out

in darkness,

small figures

and larger ones

shrouded in duffle hoods

watching and waiting

for those who

came to pray

those moonlit nights

with a skittish smile

on their lips.

We knelt and chanted litanies,

learned in school,

beseeching Mother most holy,

and Star of the Sea

and sang dark hymns,

in a language

that we did not understand.

We stood and watched

in the cold grey yard

as classmates

in robes of black and white

emptied thuribles

of smoking coals and incense,

which trailed our

journey home.