Ships at Sea

Aug 17 2012

The lighthouse keeper

keeps his thoughts to himself,

perched high atop

scoured rock

in a white-washed tower.

Takes circular walks

on a well-worn path

on his small dominion of land,

navigates borders by heart.

Climbs to the light

in its glass-walled fortress,

a well-ordered man

kept well apart.

The marginal garden he tends.

The giant reflector

protecting ships at sea.

He listens in to the airwaves

but no one listen to him,

and like a dragooned sailor

never learned to swim.

So here he stays,

a beacon of safety

to navigate by.

The unseen keeper

in a blaze of light.

A young and aimless man

in need of a job

came aground on these rocks

and foundered.

And now, voice long lost

he keeps his distance.

Land-locked,

yet marooned at sea.

And then one day

when his legs give out

and the light goes dark,

it will be a ship-wrecked sailor

flung up on the rocks

who saves him.