Fog-Bound Light
How vast is the sea, how endless the tide,
How deep is the green of the near hillside:
How lonely the fisherman out on the wave,
How strong and determined, how desperate, how brave.
Far on the horizon a great ship holds sway,
Hauling its cargo to home or away.
Its captain and crew are just barely aware
Of lighthouse and keeper somewhere over there.
But, when there’s a fog of the dangerous kind,
Both lighthouse and keeper come clear to the mind.
As the world fades away and the shore can’t be seen,
Only the light and the horn lie between
The sailors who labor, the ships as they go
And carnivorous rocks lurking silent below.
Inside the light, the poor keeper’s a-feared:
For those in his keeping the world’s disappeared.
His duty, so lonely, can only succeed
If the light remains constant and others take heed…
If the foghorn outcries both the surf and the spray
In time to keep everyone safely away.
And, nobody thanks him, though surely they might,
For guarding their lives through the fog and the night,
For how vast is the sea, and how endless the tide,
How deep is the green of the near hillside:
How lonely the keeper, though lives he may save,
How strong and determined, how desperate, how brave.
Written by
The Q.O.E.
October 3, 2018