The stranger in the pumpkin said:

"It's all dark inside your head.

What a dullard you must be!

Without light how can you see?

Don't you know that heads should shine

From deep inside themselves - like mine?

Well, don't stand there in a pout

With that dark dome sticking out -

It makes me sick to look at it!

Go and get your candle lit!"

           John Ciardi

   After it's lid

Is cut, the slick

Seeds and stuck

   Wet strings

  Scooped out,

 Walls scraped

 Dry and white,

Face carved, candle

   Fixed and lit,

   Light creeps

   Into the thick

   Rind: giving

That dead orange

  Vegetable skull

Warm skin, making

   A live head

   To hold it's

Sharp gold grin.

Valerie Worth (1933 - 1994)

Five little pumpkins sitting on a gate,

          The first one said,

      "Oh my, it's getting late."

         The second one said,

            "But we don't care."

             The third one said,

         "I see witches in the air."

             The fourth one said,

       "Let's run, and run, and run."

                The fifth one said ,

          "Get ready for some fun."

        Then whoosh went the wind,

            and out went the lights,

And five little pumpkins rolled out of sight!

               Anonymous