The Gallows

JACK O' LANTERN
by Pamela Grey

When Lady-Day one year we moved
To leave the house we dearly loved
We packed our things and all our ware
A toweren waggon-load of gear
And off we started down the road
With two strong mares to draw the load.
But having neither cage nor bin
To put our wing-clipped Jackdaw in
Father, he fetch'd our lantern out
And that's what made the folk to shout—

"Why there goes Jack o' Lantern!
We've heerd of Jack o' Lantern
But never thought to see 'un—No!
Not see a Jack o' Lantern."

Dear, what a sight it were!—the chairs
Were corded to the sides in pairs.
The clock sewn up in canvas bag
Was stitched agin' the sofa lag.
The chest of drawers stuffed fit to crack
Was wedged in 'long with Father's sack.
Tables, with all their lags in air
Made room for boxes and to spare.
While pots and pans and tins and pails
Went swingen on a score of nails—

Along of Jack o' Lantern
And "look at Jack o' Lantern"
The mothers to the children cry
"Come out! see Jack o' Lantern."

And now the Time be flyen fast.
But often looken down the Past
I mind me of the home we left
Familiar rooms o' life bereft.
The empty walls, the wide-flung sash
The hearth all thick wi' last night's ash.
I knew to Mother it were pain
To think she'd never see't again.
And yet wi' eyes but barely dry
She smiled to hear the children cry—

"O! look at Jack o'Lantern!
We've heerd of Jack o' Lantern
But never thought to see 'un—No!
A proper Jack o' Lantern."