She Lifts Her Lamp

She Lifts Her Lamp
by Maurice R. Franks

They took the lamp from out the torch
About the time they slammed the door,
And placed instead a lump of brass -
Fool's gold where flames had shone before.

Refurbished thus, this gift from France
With superficial gleam doth lure
A world naïve, nay, entranced
By ideals once so fresh and pure.

Shine that lamp on those in prison,
On ghetto children in despair.
Show the world our rapes and killings,
How racist thinking took us there.

A culture lost, its values gone,
Used needles shine from sea to sea.
Democracy shall ne'er last long
Too dumb to ask, "Why must this be?"

Truths now lost, truths now languish,
Truths for which our fathers died.
She holds her lamp aloft with anguish.
It's hollow, gnawing from inside.

Copyright © 1998, Maurice R. Franks