The Lighthouse (Poetry)

Some nights I dream I see the light from here —
that flash that sends its warning from afar
a shifting band with cold intentions clear —
to taunt the moon — outshine the wayward star

Its gleam picks out the underside of clouds
and catches on the tips of restless waves
it spots lone sailboats — silvering their shrouds
the sea-slapped rocks revealed as bent-backed slaves

Across the sands to probe the ravaged cliff
interrogate those shadows lurking there
it scans the shingle trail of shoreline drift
the night unbuttoned — limbolands laid bare

I glimpse the scene from some high point in sleep
imagination’s lighthouse searches wide
as dark unrolls and ghosts rise from the deep
the message comes — unbidden — on the tide

But late — too late. Such aging timbers break
to split the vessel — sink its brittle bones
for life’s a callous thief who’s bound to take
those fading hopes love’s weary heart disowns