Wanderer’s Lamp

by Hannah Walker

I saw a road—beheld the lamp
Secure upon my hand;
Held steady, while my weighted feet
Refused the unlit bend,

And I through darkness looked, immured,
In terror foundering;
Half-swallowed in the deep unknown
Between no boundaries–

Unfathomed ocean, chartless wood:
All one became; then I,
Footless and fettered at the start,
Down sank alone, and blind–

But, loosed, the lamp fell as I fell
Within its compass glow;
Round fainting limbs a shelter formed,
And perfect armor drew.

The road before me–no less long;
But anchored by the lamp,
My quickening feet the moment dared,
And took the lightened step.