The Woodland Ghost

I've seen the woodland ghost

Wan and pale in the moonlight

Dancing a waltz all by their lonesome

In front of an assart hedge

Water runs through the woods

That line across the road from the house

The small, helpless creature dropped from the bridge

Grew and gave birth to babies

The ghosts dance in the woods

And on the North Lawn

The one with the gigantic bush

That became the playground fortress and hideaway

Of every child who visited

Unable to walk one year

I sat in a wheelbarrow in the sun

While they planted vegetables

Big cars in the driveway

Curvy roofs and big fins on the tails

Air conditioned by the wind

If you could crank the handles

The tree house so high I was scared

Too scared to climb up that high

Too scared to climb among the old cars

Junked and rusting where I stacked wood

Near where we saw the mother raccoon

With her babies

The big rooms where everybody slept

In the big house out in the country

Across a different road from a vineyard

And a private airport

With ghosts asleep in the loungers

Next to the old Franklin stove

Or playing table tennis in the cellar

After the 4-H meeting

Or out on the lawn

Riding tricycles down the mountain

That sat right at the corner

Of lawn and driveway

The woodland ghost dances

On the edge of the wonderful road

Across from the wonderful house

The big house

It needs to be a big house

Because of all the ghosts

copyright © 2012 christopher w neal all rights reserved