I lit a lamp before the dawn,
Then walked away and carried on.
Who knows what traveller, cold and late,
Might find its glow and change their fate?
I spoke a hope I scarcely weighed,
Then watched it vanish as it strayed.
For words, once freed, refuse command;
They bloom in hearts we never planned.
Long years beyond what I could see,
A stranger came and smiled at me.
“You once gave light when mine was gone.”
The lamp burned out—its flame lived on.