"Abundance"

Pumpkin Patch

Abundance

Leaf strewn mountain trails bow to valley streams
trickling 'longside fields of stippled corn stalks
and sprawling, yellowed pumpkin vines.

My eye is drawn to tractor's path
meandering 'tween mounds and hills of Autumn bounty;
to a boy restless as wild geese flocking our way,

caught up in a bountiful cornucopia, nurturing not gods,
but promises of a tummy warm with molasses,
ginger, dashes of cinnamon -

and upon the porch wicked smiles, alight at night,
coal bright, warding off Jack of the Lantern
and other wandering wayward spirits.

by Margaret Bednar, October 28, 2016

If you'd like to hear me read my poem:  https://soundcloud.com/margaretbednar/audio-recording-on-saturday-1

This is linked with "Imaginary Garden with Real Toads " Dreaming with Stacie -Celebrating the Season"

*  The cornucopia, literally "horn of plenty", comes to the Thanksgiving table thanks to Greek mythology.  The horn may have originally been that of a goat which the infant Zeus used to drink from.

*  Soon after, Jack died, as the legend goes, God would not allow such an unsavory figure into heaven.  The Devil, upset by the trick Jack had played on him and keeping his word not to claim his soul, would not allow Jack into hell.  He sent Jack off into the dark night with only a burning coal to light his way.  Jack put the coal into a carved-out turnip and has been roaming the Earth with it ever since.  The Irish began to refer to this ghostly figure as "Jack of the Lantern" and then, simply "Jack O'Lantern.