Awaiting The Ghost Of Christopher Gape Poem by Neil Godden

The cold October chill breeze fills the air.
Branches hang loose, sway listless, side to side.
Fully aware of the cold, cold days ahead,
They sway forlornly, aged and withered, died.
Stripped of the majesty the unfaithful Summer lent them.
What promises were they shown?

The Sun brings no relief as the coldness grips the land.
It's best attempts at warmth are weak at best
As the cruelness of the Winter stakes it's claim,
It's brooding over, it's bleak reign begins again.
We have no answer.

Grey, the murky clouds encase the gloom,
As they frustrate the petty efforts of the Sun.
Entrap the bleak, dank vastness of the world
In a season, like the drabness, now begun.
All colors drain.

The birds industrious efforts at great speed
Accentuate the fact the cold months come.
Rushing, rushing, rushing everywhere
There instincts, more than ever, spur them on.
And what of ours?

Freezing air enshrouds me like a mist,
Embracing like a lover - pure and true.
Promising to never let me go;
The manners of a friend, but yet a foe.
This subtle mantle drapes itself upon me for a while.
It is not mine.

It's ally stabs and taunts me; energized.
Showing it's power by freezing living breath.
I feel my face chill quickly in the cold.
I feel the ice-cold, freezing, stark caress.
Yet is it the touch of Winter that I feel?

Halloween brings no great alarm to me,
Though the silence resonates much, much deeper than before.
One night, each night, which spirits stalk the world?
What difference to believe or to ignore?
The cold outside engulfs the cold within.

The air grows thick, profound, with menace new.
A sickening dread inside my spirit grows.
I will not run, that fleeing time is through.
I know his presence well, I feel him close.

The Winter grips me tighter than before,
Nowhere to hide, time stalls, no planned escape.
The crushing of all hope, his whispered call,
The smallest sound that leads me to my fate.

Towards the moment I fear the most of all.
My heart pounds thump, thump, thump as I await
The arrival of the ghost of Christopher Gape.