About The Graveyard Rabbit

The poem printed here was the inspiration for the Association of Graveyard Rabbits, founded earlier this year by Terry Thornton and its Founding Member, footnoteMaven.

A weekly synopsis of other Graveyard Rabbit posts appears each week on the association's home website www.thegraveyardrabbit.com.

Many of you who have either owned a "rabbit's foot," or known someone who has, possibly may not have known the basis for the rabbit foot's professed good luck. Frank Lebby Stanton's poem explains that legend.

The Graveyard Rabbit

by Frank Lebby Stanton

In the white moonlight, where the willow waves,
He halfway gallops among the graves---
A tiny ghost in the gloom and gleam,
Content to dwell where the dead men dream,
But wary still: For they plot him ill;
For the graveyard rabbit hath a charm(May God defend us!) to shield from harm!
Over the shimmering slabs he goes---
Every grave in the dark he knows;
But his nest is hidden from human eye,
Where headstones broken on old graves lie.
Wary still! For they plot him ill:
For the graveyard rabbit, though skeptics scoff,
Charmeth the witch and the wizard off!
The black man creeps, when the night is dim,
Fearful, still, on the track of him;
Or fleety follows the way he runs,
For he heals the hurts of the conjured ones.
Wary still! For they plot him ill;
The soul's bewitched that would find release,
To the graveyard rabbit go for peace!
He holds their secret---he brings a boon,
Where winds moan wild in the dark o' the moon;
And gold shall glitter and love smile sweet,
To whoever shall sever his furry feet!
Wary still!For they plot him ill:
For the graveyard rabbit hath a charm(May God defend us!) to shield from harm.