Poetry Explorer


Classic and Contemporary Poetry


STREET LAMPS by JOHN GALSWORTHY

First Line: LAMPS, LAMPS! LAMPS EVERYWHERE!
Last Line: YOUTHLESS -- AND NEVER OLD!
Subject(s): STREET LIGHTS;

LAMPS, lamps! Lamps everywhere!
You wistful, gay, and burning eyes,
You stars low-driven from the skies
Down on the rainy air.

You merchant eyes, that never tire
Of spying out our little ways,
Of summing up our little days
In ledgerings of fire --

Inscrutable your nightly glance,
Your lighting and your snuffing out,
Your flicker through the windy rout,
Guiding this mazy dance.

O watchful, troubled gaze of gold,
Protecting us upon our beats --
You piteous glamour of the streets,
Youthless -- and never old!



Home: PoetryExplorer.net