Draft in the author’s style. This poem was written for Poet of Chilling Shivers to sit beside the author’s own readings, and is waiting for the author’s review. The commentary is a working draft too.
In the middle of the cornfield where the harvest sways and sighs,
Stands a scarecrow in a tattered coat, with stitched-on button eyes.
The farmer says it guards the crops from every crow and mouse,
But the children in the village will not pass the field or house.
For on the night of the harvest moon, when the wind begins to moan,
The scarecrow leaves his wooden post and walks the fields alone.
His boots are made of straw and rope, they never make a sound,
But the corn leans back in fear as he stalks the fallow ground.
He visits every window and he peers with a stitched-on frown,
Counting every sleeping child from the edge of the little town.
By dawn he's back upon his pole with his arms held out and wide,
And the only sign he's left behind is the straw on the ground outside.
Poet of Chilling Shivers · Hear it on the channel ↗
Commentary
A scarecrow is made to frighten birds, and this poem asks what else it might frighten. On one night each year, it leaves its post and visits the village.
In a cornfield “Stands a scarecrow in a tattered coat, with stitched-on button eyes.” The farmer says it guards the crops, but “the children in the village will not pass the field.” On “the night of the harvest moon,” the scarecrow “leaves his wooden post and walks the fields alone.”
His “boots are made of straw and rope” and “never make a sound,” but “the corn leans back in fear.” He visits “every window,” “counting every sleeping child.” By dawn he is “back upon his pole,” and the only sign is “the straw on the ground outside.”