Lighthouse Keeper’s Song

Posted bywordsandcoffee1Posted inPoetryTags:, , , , 
under the echoes of birdsong,
the waves serenade the rocks
meeting together, crashing gong,
sky and water: earth's paradox

the waves serenade the rocks
from the cliffs of this lonely isle
sky and water: earth's paradox
will you stay here with me for a while?

from the cliffs of this lonely isle,
we surrender all humanity
will you stay here with me for a while?
nights are silent beyond the trees

we surrender all humanity,
accepting guardianship of the coasts
nights are silent beyond the trees,
moaning wind, and shipwrecked ghosts

The Wea’ve Written Weekly prompt comes from Punam this week, who asks us to do the following:

—Write a Pantoum on the theme of abandonment.

I think I’ve written one other pantoum on this blog before, but I couldn’t find it, so here’s instead the link to another poem I wrote about Lake Superior. Maybe this is no longer the case today, but I think a hundred years ago, being out in a remote place as the (perhaps sole) guardian of a light that brings ships safely to shore sounds both slightly mystical and incredibly lonely.

My husband and I visited this particular lighthouse (the Split Rock Lighthouse in Two Harbors, Minnesota) in October 2021. It’s a breathtaking sheer cliff drop of 130 feet from the lighthouse to the frigid and crystal clear waters below. The North Shore of Lake Superior was once known as the most dangerous piece of water in the world, home to more than 300 shipwrecks. Many lighthouses also freckle the coasts of Lake Superior, established in attempts to prevent adding to that total. Some of them are still in use today.

Image from Minnesota Historical Society

My mom’s a huge fan of lighthouses, and, living near the Great Lakes most of my life, we’ve had opportunities to explore quite a few of them and learn their interesting histories. I’ve even written a poem while sitting on a rock in the shadow of another Lake Superior lighthouse, that one in Marquette, Michigan.

31 thoughts on “Lighthouse Keeper’s Song”

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