Lightkeeper

The Lightkeeper

My task to keep the light
Burning clear throughout the night.
Beyond, the wild unfathomable sea.
Invisible below, even to me,
The jagged reef lies still and dark,
Its prey the unsuspecting barque
Which blindly strays too near.
No sound can reach me here.
Encapsulated in the glass
I watch the lantern's steady pass,
From north to south and back again
The beacon shines through mist and rain.
But in the dark night of my soul
No friendly beam to keep me whole.
My daughter lies across the shore.
Her laughter I will hear no more.



The poem was suggested by a line in a keeper's log:
'This morning I rowed my little daughter's body across to shore for burial.'

The Lighthousekeeper's Daughter by Norman Rockwell