06/12/2025
I wonder who else had one of these "Aladdin" paraffin heaters to keep the cold at bay? I remember being sent to buy a gallon of blue paraffin and carry it home in a metal jerry can - it was blooming heavy! We then had to pour the paraffin into the heater, trim the wick, then light it with a match. Amazingly, most of the children survived without Health and Safety regulations to protect us!
Paraffin heat on a winter’s night—
that lonely little flame,
shrinking shadows on the wallpaper,
painting gold around our name.
The smell—how it lingers even now—
a mix of comfort, kerosene,
old carpets, damp gloves by the doorway,
and a world still half-in-be
Outside the dark felt deeper then,
colder, wider, slow to lift
but inside, that paraffin heater
tunning the wick just gently
watching the flames grow
We didn’t have much, looking back
but we had that glow, that quiet beat,
that room where childhood warmed itself
on simple paraffin heat.
Poem by Michael Francis.
