Happy Samhain!

WISHING my friends and contacts a very happy and blessed Samhain. This is a night when I honour my Scottish ancestors, in particular, but at this time of the year we should all raise a glass to those from whom we sprang and whose blood flows through our veins like perennial sustenance. Death is but an illusion and our heroes, heroines, ruffians and rogues accompany us on life's brief sojourn throughout each minute and hour of the day. Here are a few lines that I composed last year:

Harvest time is o'er at last, the fire-dances beckon

The days are short, the sun is low, with darkness we shall reckon

Our dead return upon this night like intermittent chorus

So, lay the place at table's head for those who came before us.

Hail and wassail!