Meet Me in Octoberland

When September closes its doors
When fall has fully slipped summer's moors
Step through the sugar maple leaf
Into October's secret retreat

When you discover parched branches
Dotted with leaves hung out to dry
When windows have frosted with splatters of ice
When your senses are bathed in flickering orange light
And your chapped lips pucker from golden apple cider
Come, join me here in the liminal state we call October
I'll be waiting for you, armored in shearling and yarn

October is where the planes wear thin
And flitting fairies come tumbling in
Slip into this transitional phase
Watch the physical world slow and change
Together we'll pray and bathe
In the dancing flames' crackle and char

When your neck starts to prickle at the sound of leaf chatter
See my silhouette pulsing beneath the full hunter's moon
I'll call out to the squirming darkness
Beckoning hatted bears and masked raccoons
Forming a circle, we'll dance and swoon
My voice lifts and drones
Over the high-frequency trill of bats' song
Notes floating past Luna's amber visage
A supersonic orchestral movement
Playing all the night long
So follow the whispers through the tangible mist
Breaking through spider webs and
The dead branches' grip

You'll find me where the night grows long
Where Chestnuts hiss and pumpkins roam
I'll be waiting out by the stagnant fountain pond
We can watch the algae bloom, and admire the green moss
Adorning aged cracks in the ancient stacked rocks
Come take a gander as sparrows and geese flock
All on the owl's midnight watch

I'll topple the cauldron of this year's despair
Let it boil and inch down the high barren hill
Slinking, oily and slick
Follow the river and brave the foul-smelling air
Avoid stepping in the roiling spilt concoction
Leap over the slurry that bubbles with ick
Come, take my hand
Despite the shock of my frozen skin

Hark, escape awaits
Through a mountain of leaves and mulching sticks
Where snails and pillbugs eat their fill next to the
Growing mourning cloak and luminescent luna
Fall's contrasting palette aglow
Follow the painted skeletons
Who dance to the rhythm of the ancestral rainbow

A child of Octoberland, I await your presence
I long to welcome you to my humble abode
I venture out to other months every year
While my heart and my soul remain residents here
Once you've soaked up October's hallmark sights
We'll slip together through November's steaming door
Stepping through the stylized cup of hot chocolate

K.B. Silver

When I read the prompt, it brought me to the intro of A Nightmare Before Christmas. The scene of the trees with magical doors to the holidays is such a fantastic image. In this version, the doors lead to the months instead of specific holidays.