OCTOBER'S RETICENCE AGAIN (REVISED)

(for Washington Irving)

caught out by the jagged wind's

October's reticence again

I heard the name of Ichabod Crane

and Sleepy Hollow's penned again

out on no mercenary mission.

all in flame the evening trees

more shivery than even these

by sunset's notice unreprieved

I followed down the desolate lanes

the apple fields of what remains

I heard the name of Ichabod Crane

an inner music tapped its cane

long lapsed the wheel of Catherine turned

and young was old and never the same

stared Rip Van Winkle and Ichabod Crane

troubled, in the grey mists of Rackham.

mary angela douglas 5 october 2022;21 february 2023

P.S. Racham refers to the otherworldly Englsh illustrator, Arthur Rackham.