Draft in the author’s style. This poem was written for Poet in Wonderland to sit beside the author’s own readings, and is waiting for the author’s review. The commentary is a working draft too.
When the clock struck twelve on the Hallow's Eve, the goblins raised their stalls,
In the hollow of an oak tree, with their lanterns on the walls.
They sold you jars of laughter and a bottle of the wind,
And a cloak that made you weightless, and a coin that never thinned.
A goblin with a monocle held up a fluttering thing,
It was a moth with lantern wings, and it hummed like a violin string.
I traded him a secret for a candle made of stars,
And he locked it in a ledger, with a lock and iron bars.
But the candle that I carried burned a very steady light,
And it lit the way back homeward through the shadows of the night.
So if you find that market, then remember what I say,
Bargain with a clever heart, and be home before the day.
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Commentary
A goblin market appears only at midnight, and its wares are odd and wonderful. This poem goes shopping there and comes back with a lesson about bargaining wisely.
“When the clock struck twelve on the Hallow’s Eve, the goblins raised their stalls” inside an oak tree. They sell “jars of laughter and a bottle of the wind,” “a cloak that made you weightless,” and “a coin that never thinned.” One goblin holds “a moth with lantern wings.”
The speaker trades “a secret for a candle made of stars,” which the goblin locks “in a ledger.” The candle burns “a very steady light” that guides the speaker home. The advice is, “Bargain with a clever heart, and be home before the day.”