ODE Poem: ODE TO MY LAMP, by Teniola Balogun

Lumi, I write to you
With squinting eyes
Under the pale reflection of the moon
And the torturing cold of the north
I write in blue
Shaky? — yes but my hand complies
Although my thoughts lie strewn
I’ll still pen them forth.

Lumi, I write to you
From many nights in that tiny room
The gathered garner of our amity
When you were nothing but illumination
And I wrote and read and drew,
On the floor were always scattered pieces of a student’s workloom
But you were a lifeless embody of directing luminosity
Your forty eyes in this room were Haven.

Lumi, I write to you
With two fingers married to your switch
Cursing NEPA in between gritted teeth,
I also rue the days I let you fall
And I know an ode to you is overdue
Your glass and tiny bulbs, O’ such luminous distich
I never thought of the day I would sit in the dark and seethe
Knowing a flick of your switch wouldn’t turn you on, at all.

Author: poetryfest

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