"All that mankind has done, thought, gained or been: it is lying as in magic preservation in the pages of books."
-Thomas Carlyle

by Daniel Morgan

When eye looked out upon the bed
And what had once brought smiles to life,
The Hebrew wept. He groaned to grasp
The handful of years the boy had lived.

The day beyond this darkened room
Mocked the still unsightly scene.
The prophet told her standing there
To find a lamp to be relit.

Thrice he spread over the three-foot frame
Like a spirit over the deep.
The lamp within became fragrant
And the smile that left began to grin.