Jack O’Lantern Dreams

Once a greedy little boy

Ate too much pumpkin pie at night,

And the awful dreams he had

Made his hair stand up in fright.

Dreadful grinning pumpkin faces

Crowded all around his bed,

And every grinning pumpkin face

Showed a fire inside the head.

“We are ghosts,” the faces shouted,

“Of the pumpkins in those pies,

If you had not been so greedy,

We would not before you rise.”

Then the dreadful firelit faces

Faded slowly out of sight,

But the awful pain inside him

Lasted nearly all the night.