You offer me peace —
and I sin in silence

Halloween is the one time of the year
all the ghouls and demons and ***** creatures
can come out to play.

No one glances at the
bulging eyes or wild horns
as the kids play
among former beings of the night.

In the early dusk evenings
among cracking leaves
sounding like flames licking neighborhood streets,
I see peace in the flickering eyes of a
children's jack o' lantern,
not startled by
the ghost I am
as I slip by.

If I could bury you
Beneath the rubble,
Below the garbage,
Underneath the filth,
Close to the walls of hell

I'd bury you alive

If I could bury you
Turn you into a distant memory,
Into an insignificant written page,
Torn and turned to ashes,
Close to the edge of nothingness

I'd bury you alive

But
I have to deal with you
I still have to deal with you
You still show up uninvited
An entitled guest
In my show of life

I still have to look at you
And smile
I have to muster all my courage
Remind myself that evil comes
Shaped in sheep's clothing

I have to build walls so high
That Jack and the beans stock
Cannot reach
So strong that they survive tsunamis

I still have to smell you
and your rotten nonsense
I still have to hear you
and you ephemeral words

If I could bury you
I'd bury you alive
Alongside my walls and defenses

So that I may no longer
Speak any Evil
Hear any Evil
See any Evil
And well
Smell any Evil