Poetry Explorer


Classic and Contemporary Poetry


ELECTRIC LIGHT-VERSE by L. ALLEN BECK

First Line: SOME WICKED HOLDING COMPANY CONTROLS
Last Line: THAN DO WITHOUT MY NIGHTLY INCANDESCENCE!
Subject(s): ELECTRICITY;

Some wicked holding company controls
A great utility, whose dynamo
Prepares the juice, and sends it to far goals
Where amps and ohms and volts achieve a glow
Upon a filament within a globe
That onetime dazzles -- lights up all the night;
Bedecks dark corners with a brilliant robe --
Yet often sheds a soft and gentle light.

My forebears groped their candle-lighted way
To bed at dusk, competing with the rooster;
But I, who own no chick, no hog, no hay,
Prefer to class myself Electra's booster.
I'd rather even pay for obsolescence
Than do without my nightly incandescence!



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