Lyric

He said it passing through the hall

Didn't stop, didn't turn

Halloween—something from where he used to live

One night they all dress up as monsters

Knock on doors and ask for sugar

Then he laughed, a little

I wrote it on my wrist

He didn't ask for anything

So why am I already counting candles

One night a year, it's Halloween

They borrow faces like ours

Knock on a door, trick or treat, run back home

We never get to take ours off

Here it's Halloween every night

Every single night

So make this one his

Forty pumpkins up from the lower fields

Claws are faster than knives, it turns out

Don't carve them smiling—

Wait. He might like smiling

Fine. Half smiling

A candle in each one so the faces glow

Someone wants fog across the gate

Someone wants a dragon. No

He said doors. He said sugar

Keep it small. Keep it his

We don't knock on doors here

We open them

So practice it—trick or treat

One night a year, it's Halloween

They borrow faces like ours

Knock on a door, trick or treat, run back home

We never get to take ours off

Here it's Halloween every night

Every single night

So make this one his

He can't eat what we're baking

I know. Everyone knows

Bake it anyway

Leave the plate where he walks by

If he slows down for a second

That pays for the whole night

Midnight. Every pumpkin burning

He's in the doorway, hand on the frame

Looking longer than he has to

Says good work, the way he always does

Then doesn't leave

One night a year, it's Halloween

They borrow faces like ours

Knock on a door, trick or treat, run back home

We never get to take ours off

Here it's Halloween every night

Every single night

And tonight he stayed

The pumpkins will be soft by Sunday

I'm keeping one stem