Lighthouse

Sometimes I feel like a small boat out on the ocean.

The sea is deep, vast, and lonely.

I feel the waves crash upon the sides of my small boat.

Sometimes I allow the chaos to lull me to sleep, sometimes drive me to panic.

Sometimes I allow it to control me.

I’ve sailed the great sea ahead of me fearing what lies beyond the water’s surface.

As the salt water has stung my eyes many times before, it’s getting harder and harder to remain impervious.

Though this darkened journey has not been without its light

There are lighthouses that I stop at.

Some that welcome my return

Some that restore my sense of fight.

They help me, providing guidance through the night

Some are less inviting, they look like refuge from the troubled sea.

Strong mirages that aim to deter me.

As the ocean rises and falls threatening to consume my little boat.

I take great solace in my lighthouses that have kept me afloat.

There was a great tall lighthouse, sturdy as the day was long.

I remember the beacon it had shown, beautiful as a song.

An old lighthouse, the paint chipped and discolored with age

But its brilliant light never dared fade.

This lighthouse stood proud, welcoming his family’s fleet.

Guiding them with might.

This lighthouse took away the scariness of floating.

He made a puddle of the ocean.

Leaving memories so large yet fleeting, there’s no choice but to succumb to my emotions.

I’m sure this lighthouse had other dreams, but it never complained of work.

I’d watched this lighthouse and took comfort in its presence.

No matter how far I strayed I would return effervescent.

I never thought I’d see the day my lighthouse would fade from me.

I felt its presence disappear and I have struggled with my grief.

The salt I feel that stings my eyes now comes from my body not the sea.

I fill this fearsome ocean as thunderstorms come for me.

I hope that I might shine half as bright as my lighthouse’s beacon.

I hope that through his memory I’ll illuminate in time.

I hope that through my beacon my grandfather’s radiance may proudly shine.

I hope you watch over my lighthouse grandad, because you were always mine.