Stolen Light

I'm fond of my parents' ivory lamp,
elephant and palm tree
carved on one face,
terraced urban scene 
and huge bird of prey
on the reverse,
casting its subdued orange glow
around the evening walls 
as moths flutter 
and the cat comes in to groom.

I'm ashamed of my lamp,
ivory torn from, who knows,
mother of a calf, leader of the herd,
hunted down half a century ago
on Ghanaian savannah lands
as elephants began their journey
to extinction near Larabanga's
markets; bought from a local craftsman 
who'd lost money at the races
and was keen to sell.

Is this why I keep my lamp
half hidden on a high bookshelf,
take it down only on evenings
when the cat brings in a rabbit
she's caught to show proudly?
I cannot revive the creature 
any more than I can put tusks
back on elephants, 
so I secrete my lamp, 
not advertising complicity 
in Molé's*venatic past any more

than in feline hunting now. 

©Janet Henderson 7th February 2020

*Molé National Park in Ghana was created in 1958. Formerly an area where elephants and other species were hunted, it is now Ghana's largest wildlife refuge and an important site for scientific studies due to the relatively undisturbed habitat the animals enjoy.