only my lamp
with it's shade like an umbrella
soft with a yellow halo
will offer me such gallant shelter
from the dark downpour
of the night

only this cozy lamp holds me dear
night after night, in the aura
of love.   when night falls,
the lamp is on my side
and night is on the other side
in between
an endless whirlwind blows

is night for the bed
or for the lamp?  is it with the sleeping
or with the waking? in the end
the time comes in solitude and silence
to face my whispering ghosts
as i shoulder all the dark weight of night

the sleeping are launched
on a thousand pillows
to be ferried to a thousand dreams
the wakeful, like me, are keeping watch
over the same night that closes in--
it seems i've been sleepless for a thousand years

the lamp by my bed
the remote heir of torchlight
seems to have shone through a long night
that spans the centuries.   however deep the night
a few lamps like mine will always be shining
drilling holes through the darkness
to echo stars that have shone long before
lamps and beds were here