Hallowe’en at Heligan

The mud maid greeted us

on our Hallowe’en hike.

Not that we were seriously hiking.

More of a Saturday afternoon stroll if truth be told.

But Heligan appears to be hauntingly beautiful

whenever we visit

and this was no exception.

We hadn’t gone far

before we met

a sinister spider.

The grey lady

and silky black witches’ hats

were camera-shy …

… but there were pumpkins galore.

I didn’t have to look hard

to find nature was adding

to the general spookiness

with no help at all.

An apocalypse of

dying gunnera leaves,

with just the one brave

green thrust of life.

And amidst the detritus of summer’s splendour

the fungi

appeared as

ghostly apparitions.

Stiff as sentries,

devoid of the colourful petals

that once surrounded and softened

the darkness of their hearts,

blackened seedheads stood soberly

and offered

promise of light, bright, charisma

when summer comes

once more.

“The farther we’ve gotten from the magic and mystery of our past,

the more we’ve come to need Halloween.”

(October Dreams: A celebration of Halloween – Paula Guran)