Town Of Ancient Night Lamps Poem by Emmanuel George Cefai

I left the house.

Pace after pace
street after street
Into strait alleys
peered I in the
dark half-silence.

Every fixed distance
a night lamp clanks
vision is blurred
tears in the eye
the head dreams
the eye-lids lower
but not sleep.

So many streets!
So many night-lamps
dim, half-dim, some
rarely bright:
yet
all romantic
yearning for a wind
to clank
clank
in the nights romantic.

Do not look at the palaces
Do not look at the monuments
Ignore the churches
and
your heart will still
fill
with night-lamps
clanking
clanking
clanking.