Spooky Halloween

Spooky Halloween poems for children to recite on All Souls Night.

Witches and goblins, spooks and elves,
With sprites and gnomes from elf-land delves,
Tonight are flying here and there,
Yes, up and down and everywhere.
For this one night in all the year
They rule the earth and bring great fear
To all the naughty little boys
Who tease good girls and break their toys.

These spooks they also make girls sad
When they are selfish, cross and bad;
So when it’s dark, bad boys and maids,
They see these awful fearsome shades,
And that is why with covered heads,
They trembling lie in their warm beds.
But even there they goblins see,
Spooks and gnomes, and all that be

Abroad upon weird Halloween
When all the wizards may be seen
By naughty kids and grown-up folks
Who like to play most wicked jokes.
But good young girls and gentle boys,
The kids who are their mothers’ joys
They like the dark just as the light,
For spooks never come within their sight,

And in their dreams they lovely elves
Show them bright scenes from fairy delves.
So, if tonight you are afraid
Of any spook or any shade,
We’ll know you are a naughty child,
So cross and wilful, rude and wild.

Halloween by Julie Atkinson

Halloween is drawing nigh
Black cats prowl and witches fly
Across the eerie moonlit sky
And down below in darkened light
We hear the screams of kids delight

Here on this night called Halloween
With bags for candy children glean
Jack ‘o lanterns beckon all
Whether big or whether small

In houses old with long dark halls
Are heard the eerie moans and calls
Of wispy ghosts with clanking chains
That chill the blood within our veins.

Halloween by Mary Jane Carr

Witches flying past on broomsticks,
Black cats leaping here and there,
White-robed spooks on every corner,
Mournful moaning in the air,

Goblins peering out of windows,
Spirit-things that rap and run-
But don’t be scared – it’s just October,
Having one last hour of fun!

This is Halloween by Dorothy Brown Thompson

Goblins on the doorstep,
Phantoms in the air,
Owls on witches’ gateposts
Giving stare for stare,
Cats on flying broomsticks,
Bats against the moon,
Stirrings round of fate-cakes
With a solemn spoon,
Whirling apple parings,
Figures draped in sheets
Dodging, disapprearing,
Up and down the streets,
Jack-o’-lanterns grinning,
Shadows on a screen,
Shrieks and starts and laughter-
This is Halloween!

A Magic Chant by Samuel Exler

If in the dark you’re frightened,
Here’s all you have to do.
Say: Igga bigga, Hunka bunka,
Dinka danka doo.
These words give you protection
From ghosts-and witches, too.
Say: Igga bigga, Hunka bunka,
Dinka danka doo.
So if at night a monster
Should whisper,”I’ll get you,”
Yell: Igga bigga, hunka bunka,
Dinka danka doo.

Monster Stew by Judith Kinter

If you are getting tired
Of plain old witches’ brew,
Next time you have a party
Try gourmet monster stew.
Put on an old black apron
Borrowed from a witch,
Then scoop in murky water
From a brackish ditch.
Pond slime is the next thing,
A bucketful or two,
But if you don’t have pond slime,
Some moldy soup will do.
Now measure in an owl-hoot,
Two grumbles and a groan.
To make it really tasty,
Add an eerie moan.
Now if your guests are monsters,
You cackle while they eat.
They’ll say your stew is gruesome,
A most delightful treat!

Halloween Wind by Sandra Liatsos

The wind came trick-or-treating
down our quiet street.
It rattled all the windows
and then we heard it beat
on every door at every house
where shutters banged and clattered.
It howled for treats and howled for more
while leaves and branches scattered.
It rolled a pumpkin down the street,
and made the cat’s fur rise.
Then after all the tricks it played
it flew up in the sky
with candy wrappers in its grasp,
and empty bags and sticks –
It hadn’t wanted treats at all,
only lots of tricks!

If You’ve Never

If you’ve never seen an old witch riding through the sky,
Or never felt big bat’s wings flopping, as they fly,
If you’ve never touched a white thing gliding through the air,
And knew it was a ghost because you got a dreadful scare,
If you’ve never heard the night owls crying, “Whoo-whoo-whoo?”
And never jumped at pumpkin eyes gleaming out at you
If all of these exciting things you’ve never heard or seen,
Why then, you’ve missed a lot of fun, because that is Halloween!

Spooks by Sandra Liatsos

There’s a goblin at my window,
A monster by my door.
The pumpkin at my table
Keeps on smiling more and more.
There’s a ghost who haunts my bedroom,
A witch whose face is green.
They used to be my family,
Till they dressed for Halloween.

Happy Halloween

It’s late and we are sleepy, the air is cold and still.
Our jack-o-lantern grins at us upon the window sill.
We’re stuffed with cake and candy and we’ve had a lot of fun,
But now it’s time to go to bed and dream of all we’ve done.
We’ll dream of ghosts and goblins and of witches that we’ve seen,
And we’ll dream of trick-or-treating on this happy Halloween.

Ghost Bus

Underneath the lamp post,
in the middle of the night,
A ghost bus make a silent stop,
a strange and fearful sight.
At the bus stop at your corner,
something big and green climbed down.
It’s looking for your bedroom,
and it has searched all over town.
You thought it couldn’t find you,
that you were safe and you were sound.
You thought that you could hide,
where you never could be found.
But now it’s almost here,
you know it loves the dark of night.
There’s only one thing you can do.
Quick! Turn on the light!

On Halloween by Aileen Fisher

We mask our faces and wear strange hats
and moan like witches and screech like cats
and jump like goblins and thump like elves
and almost manage to scare ourselves.

Black and Gold by Nancy Byrd Turner

Everything is black and gold,
Black and gold, tonight;
Yellow pumpkins, yellow moon,
Yellow candlelight;

Jet-black cat with golden eyes,
Shadows black as ink,
Firelight blinking in the dark
With a yellow blink.

Black and gold, black and gold,
Nothing in between –
When the world turns black and gold,
Then it’s Halloween!

Skeleton Parade

The skeletons are out tonight,
they march about the street,
With bony bodies, bony heads
and bony hands and feet.
Bony bony bony bones
with nothing in between,
Up and down and all around,
they march on Halloween.