The Lamppost
Nothing can go wrong
tonight---
the lamppost keeps
watch,
a yeoman of the guard
making sure we won't
stumble,
lighting up the fresh
snow
along the sidewalk, the
stage
where the snowcapped
posts
of the fence stand ready
to dance as the tree lifts
its white gloved
branches
toward the light in silent song.--Janet Krauss
Janet Krauss' poem packs in much emotion in a few lines. Beginning with the opening line with its firm tone, "Nothing can go wrong tonight," we are made ready to receive the beauty of the world, not pain or sorrow. The lamppost has a role to play here--it is witness to the dance of nature mirroring the joy of the speaker whose inner life is shaped by the beauty around her. The poem invites us to be selective about what brings us happiness--snow capped fence posts ready to dance, the tree lifting its white gloved branches, fresh snow on the sidewalk, and the silent song behind these images.
Note the quiet tread of the syllables--so many single syllable words like "watch," guard," "snow," "posts" at every line break--as if the words were walking the snow-covered page of the poem, leaving their prints! And on this wintery stage of the poem, the words are spoken in a single sentence. Will a fresh snowfall cover these words?
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