Ode to a Lamp

Lamp, you are an enchanting one

A hideous one besides
Your tortoiseshell exterior shines
Against the stark reason of morning
And complements even the silkiest afternoons
Causing one to comment, how precious
And another to explain, I can hardly bear it
Or I wish it were mine
The gemstones encrusted on your shade
Supposedly found in catacombs
Are the kind given to mothers
When I leave, you are still on

Ethel Rackin‘s first collection, The Forever Notes, is forthcoming in Parlor Press’ Free Verse Editions series in the fall of 2012. Her …