Light as Privilege

Natural light is an invaluable commodity
in this city so full of windows
that stare unblinkingly
at frowning brick walls.
So the disparity in wealth becomes,
yet again, a matter of literal light and dark—
square inches of visible blue sky
measured in dollars and cents.
South facing windows, an empty lot across the street,
gold that cascades through glass
illuminating walls, minds, and moods.
I recognize that the light I bask in
bears a second name: privilege.
this privilege means shadow is not
a perpetual state of being,
but rather a natural part of a cycle,
a lowering of lids, a blinking of blinds,
a velvet blanket that descends only at night.