Friday 14 November 2014

Except that candle



When I was a child
Oh, so very small
The nights were very dark indeed

We were urban poor
In the midst of war
There was no other life known to me

So food was short
and so was I
And blackout rules made night a misery

When bedtime came
Those stairs I climbed
To sleep safe with my little teddy

To allay my fears
A light was left
So goblins would not frighten me

My closing eyes
Saw little then
Except that candle flickering away

Image from www.countrysidegoods .com

5 comments:

  1. A sweet poem expressing the fears and beliefs of a kid.
    Incidentally, here in India we celebrated "Children's Day" on 14th November ( celebrated on the occasion of birthday of India's first prime minister Mr. Jawahar Lal Nehru, he loved children a lot.)

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  2. Great poem. When we visited cousins in Germany who had lived through the war, they told have having to get up to go to the bunkers to be safe from the bombings;

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  3. What's interesting to me is that we are now so many generations removed from those who lit their world with fire that most of us would consider it far too dangerous to leave a candle burning unattended. During WWII, though, older generations would for the most part have a different view of the matter. Although a mother or grandmother of the time would most likely have grown up with electric lights, candles would not have had connotations of the exotic and dangerous. Nowadays, though, we're all a little scared of fire, which was part of the reason I lit my house with glow sticks and battery lanterns after Hurricane Ike in 2008.

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    1. I am not sure whether we were more careful then or by living in England everything was so damp nothing would catch fire! I am joking of course.

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  4. I remember the 80's power cuts (thanks again Maggie)...always having candles ready...we need light for safety...in so many ways

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