Snaffling leftover hazelnuts,
Sleek squirrel suspends upside-down.
Tiny hands deftly unwrap dinner.
Galvanise-grey, this acrobatic rat flies
Onto the shed. It darts nervous glances through
Quick, obsidian beads.
A scattering of ransacked shells
Dapples lawn between hewn and
Hollowed windfalls.
The magic wand of Hallowe’en twilight
Conjures up flames.
Husks oblige and crackle their contempt,
Spitting on the bonfire, releasing
A contrary mist that stings
Moon-cold eyes.
Hard, inert ground smoulders under
Toxic low cloud.
Around the gilded, bright pyre,
A different kind of smoke emanates
From mouths of human dragons.
No one notices the rise of maverick
Sparks to kindle ether ancestors
In the atmosphere.