Riddle Poems

I always thought riddles were mostly for children, or somewhere in the category of
nursery rhymes. Actually, riddle poems go far back in history. Before the event of
printing, they were spread by word of mouth. In those days at least, they were very
much adult material.

When I was a little girl, I would sneak away to the attic to look through old
books my folks stored there. I was hoping to find something my parents would think
I was too young to read. Worst luck! They were all classic, antique books.

But I grew to love them. One had a man on the cover dressed in old fashioned
clothing, ringing a bell and shouting, "Oyez, Oyez" (as I recall.) Smiling children and adults were running towards him. I learned later he was a story teller. The author of this crumbling , yellow-paged book had gathered some word-of-mouth stories and rhymes and captured them in the pages of a children's book. Oh, if I could only see that book again! I poured over the illustrations!

I imagined that was somewhat how riddle poems were once spread - by story tellers of old. I don't believe the very earliest rhymed, but later, in some, the last two lines did rhyme. I am a dunce at riddles, but I decided to be brave and create a riddle
poem:

I shed much light on a subject,
And I'm thought to be bright.
Still, I'm always in the shade,
Yet, my glow doesn't fade.

I was sure everyone would immediately know the answer. To my utter surprise,
they didn't guess it right away (or they were humoring me!)

Answer: A lamp