The Dawn of Fear. (Sketch/Freeverse)

It’s Halloween season again, and it’s time to unleash the spookiest of costumes for tricking and treating. This time, however, I resorted to commemorating Halloween using graphite pencils and poetry. Weird?

The portrait study this time is a screaming Simon Pegg found on Pinterest.

Drawing of screaming Simon Pegg on Bristol Vellum Paper using STÆDTLER pencils

Graphite pencils were chosen this time as it’s much easier to work with one color (greyscale) compared to the abundance of hues in colored pencils. Moreover, working with graphite pencils gives more freedom to explore one’s range of drawing techniques without fear of making mistakes. This is particularly useful when those learned and perfected techniques are subsequently implemented in color pencil drawing.

Enjoyed creating this drawing (particularly the wrinkles); so much that I was inspired to write a free verse that centers on fear. Hope you like it.

I tremble not at the sight of scornful scorpions and creeping creatures,

nor do I quiver in the face of vast chasms spewing fire and brimstone;

I fear not the traversal of the deathly Elm street,

riddled with ghostly apparitions and prancing monsters,

for in the ambiance of neon-lit jack o’ lanterns,

the incandescence of His word further belights my path;

Alas,

I’m scared I’d find solace in the dark,

for the light keeps revealing my tears to sneering seagulls;

I dread that at Love’s feet layeth humanity’s jigsaw puzzle,

but pride keeps bloating my piece,

so much, I no longer fit;

I’m afraid that for my good deeds

Mother Nature bestows a priceless invisible garment,

but never gets to see its beguiling beauty on me;

I’m petrified that the world has lost all sense of colour,

and through her monochromatic lens, I’d be deemed shady.

I’m frightened my trust for humankind has eloped with the wind,

for her cold shoulder has turned my heart to ice,

and in her spiky grasps, it shatters to bits;

I’m affrighted life may morph into the desiccated woods

with us, each tree,

and my voice, endlessly drowning in its psithurism;

But most of all,

I’m scared I show no fear,

for fear is a rampaging hound preying on feeble minds,

and strong, I must appear.

🎃🎃🎃🎃🎃🎃🎃🎃🎃🎃

So, what are you most scared of? Feel free to share your thoughts.

Happy Halloween by the way, with hopes November brings good tidings. Do stay blessed.

Cheemnonso