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3 Catchy Rhymes That Add Fun to Halloween
These classics have entertained children and adults for generations
Christmas has carols. Thanksgiving has hymns. And Halloween has lots of brief, entertaining rhymes in the spirit of the day.
One of my favorites is John Ciardi’s “The Halloween House,” which appears in The Hopeful Trout and Other Limericks. With gentle comedy, the poem tweaks children’s tendency to pretend they’re not afraid of haunted. It begins:
I’m told there’s a Green Thing in there.
And the sign on the gate says BEWARE!
Another seasonal hit is Robert Graves’ “The Pumpkin,” which opens with:
You may not believe it, for hardly could I:
I was cutting a pumpkin to put in a pie …
Copyright laws don’t allow you to quote the full text of those two poems without permission, but a classic folk rhyme in the public domain may add fun to your weekend. Jump-ropers may especially remember it:
Down in the desert
Where the purple grass dies,
There sat a witch
With yellow-green eyes.
Interested in other amusing rhymes that have appealed to generations of children and adults? You might like:
@janiceharayda is a novelist and award-winning journalist who has been the book critic for Glamour and a vice president of the National Book Critics Circle. On Medium she is a Top Writer in Books, Journalism, Feminism, and Sports.
