Mother Ghost Nursery Rhymes

Rock-a-bye monster on Mommy's lap,
you have a lip that hangs like a flap,
your hair is long and slimy green,
and you're tall and skinny just like a green bean! (1970's)

Rock-a-bye ghosty high in the rafters
Mommy will keep you from any disasters
If anyone comes I will scare them away
I'll rattle my chains and yell "BOO! in their face!

~kathie adams brown (2013)

Happy Halloween!

Note: As I was writing these poems I decided to Google the title, "Mother Ghost Nursery Rhymes" just to see what was out there and I found this recording by Scholastic from 1968! I know I listened to this when I was young as I remember all the poems and songs by heart! What a treat! I can only guess that I was inspired to write my own version of Ghostly Rhymes after hearing this recording. However, each of these are my own original works adapted from  the original Mother Goose Nursery Rhymes. I hope you will enjoy them both. You can listen to the Scholastic recording by clicking on the link below. You can read all of my posts relating to this topic by clicking on the label "Mother Ghost Nursery Rhymes."

• Mother Ghost Nursery Rhymes by Scholastic
• Mother Ghost Nursery Rhymes by kathie

Mother Ghost Nursery Rhymes

photo courtesy of Chris Rohrer

Mary had a little bat with hair as black as night
and everywhere that Mary went she really was a fright!
It followed her to school one day, t'was really outta-sight!
to see that bat a-hanging there from that traffic light! ~kathie adams 1970's

Mary had a little snake that slithered right along
it flicked its tongue and flashed its scales as Mary sang a song
She brought the snake to school one day for everyone to see
and couldn't understand it when they all got up to flee!

~kathie adams brown 8-27-2013

Happy Halloween!

• Mother Ghost Nursery Rhymes by Scholastic 
• Mother Ghost Nursery Rhymes by Kathie

Mother Ghost Nursery Rhymes

Little Jack Horner
sat in a corner
eating a Halloween pie.
He put in his finger
and pulled out a stinger
and said "What a good Ghosty am I!" ~1970's

Little ghost Marty
was at a Halloween party
watching the kids go by
but when he tried to scare them
he found that they scared Him,
'cause he never saw costumes like theirs! ~2013

• Mother Ghost Nursery Rhymes

Mother Ghost Nursery Rhymes

Croak, croak black frog have you any eggs,
Yes sir, yes sir three full kegs,
one for the witches, one for the queen,
and one for the little boy who's turning so green!
Croak, croak black frog have you any eggs?
Yes sir, yes sir! Three full kegs!

~kathie adams brown circa 1970

Happy Halloween!

Mother Ghost Nursery Rhymes

Witch be nimble,
Witch be quick,
Witch jump over your brewing pit!

Peter, Peter, people eater
had a wife and couldn't eat her,
put her in a pumpkin shell
and kept her 'til she ceased to smell!

Happy Halloween!

• Mother Ghost Nursery Rhymes

Mother Ghost Nursery Rhymes

Hey diddle diddle
the bat and the fiddle
the werewolf jumped over the moon
Frankenstein laughed to see such a fright
and Dracula flew away in a swoon.

Happy Halloween!

Note: My mother recently found an old yellowed paper with these Mother Ghost Nursery Rhymes typed up on it. I vaguely remember writing these for an English class sometime back in the 70's when I was a teenager. I thought it would be fun to post them for this Halloween. While most of them are as I originally wrote them, I have changed a couple of words in a couple of them. There are 7 in all (unless I get inspired to write some new ones!) 

Mother Ghost Nursery Rhymes

The Mists of Yellowstone

Morning light diffuses in the mists of Yellowstone.

Blackbirds gather to feed on the insects attracted to the warmth of hot springs,

A few of them perch in silhouette against the pale blue sky,

Like the shadows of elusive thoughts.

The mists envelope me and cloud my mind.

I wonder if this is real, if I am awake, if sun will ever shine again.

I wander down the misty trail, eyes trying to pierce the fog, to see,

The bare bones, the tree spines, the souls of the forest revealed.

I am walking on hallowed ground,

The earth is renewed in this steaming water,

From the bowels of the earth the birth heat is released,

And then I find the life born in this place,

Evidence of generations of its kind nibbling on grasses, seeds, berries,

Parallel lines of black and white streak down its back

And end in a furry tail.

I smile at the chipmunk, my furry friend amidst all this steam and stone.

I know there is a plan, an architecture to it all—

Here in the mists, there is structure and order, and LIFE!

~kathie adams brown (October 17, 2013)

adapted from a post I wrote for Kathie's Birds called: 

Morning Mist in Yellowstone National Park

In the Green Fields of Maine

Norridgewock, ME 2012

In the green fields of Maine

I lie on the cool green breast of the earth

Warmed by an Indian Summer sun

While all of my sadness drains away

Drawn out by this good earth,

This dirt and grass, and deep blue sky

I lie here still as a newborn fawn,

I feel this sense of being

Close to the earth I love

Close to the land I love

Close to the beating heart of nature

I lie here weak and worried

Then I rest

And let my heart grow strong

Lying on this cool green breast

Warmed by the October sun

Grateful that I am home.

~Kathie Adams Brown (February 7, 2013)

End O'Day in the Catalina Foothills

I listened to the thrasher’s call

I heard coyotes sing

As the sun went down and the cactus glowed

And Gambel’s Quail took wing,

In the Catalina Foothills

When daylight fades to night

The birds and I—we are Wild Things

Dancing in golden light.

~kathie adams brown (October 2, 2013)