LIGHT SELLS

  

The agent told us to leave on a lamp

And open all the blinds. “Light sells,” she said.

“Stuffed animals that cluster on the bed,

Those pictures of the family: they stamp

The house with you and yours. When people tramp

The premises, they fail to see themselves,

Distracted by your knick-knacks on the shelves.

But light and empty space correct that slant.”

 

The Light is what I follow; so it seems

A quite appealing tactic to employ--

Though I have on occasion been deceived

By such displays as pledge domestic joy

That can be sold and bought and then possessed.

As time goes by, they fool me less and less.