It was long after bedtime one Halloween night
When I awoke with the feeling that all was not right
Everyone was still sleeping but the dog felt it too
So we creapt down together not sure what to do

The lights were all out but the house was aglow
With a blue incandescence that swung to and fro
I peered out the window, I was not afraid
And there in the darkness I saw a parade

The people were happy, the music was gay
They marched past my house and then melted away
I stepped through the door, 'twas a dark moonless night
Yet somehow the marchers were bathed in blue light

I made my way down with a slow measured pace
I was soon close enough to make out each face
And then I felt joyful and greatly surprised
For some of the faces I recognized

The first one I knew was a boy from our town
Who was killed in a storm by a tree that fell down
Next was a neighbor who'd been very I'll
Though he died long ago I remember him still

And following him was a line of young girls
All holding hands like a long string of pearls
Somehow I knew as they flowed by like water
That each one of them was the prior one's daughter

And as they went past one after another
There at the end was my mother's mother
I could not get to her as hard as I tried
But she turned and she smiled at me as I cried

Then she was gone in a flicker of light
As the strange music faded into the night
There was nothing to do but go back to bed
And dream of this magical march of the dead

For never was there a more joyful sight
Than my grandmother's smile that Halloween night