Lighthouse at World's End

Solitary sentinel, stone and light,

Perched on cliffs where land
surrenders.
Your beacon pierces velvet night,
Warning of treacherous shoals and
breakers.

Salt-crusted windows, iron-grey door,

Weathered by centuries of storm.
You've watched empires rise and fall,
While keeping sailors safe and warm.

Your keeper's gone, replaced by

circuits,
No more oil to trim, no brass to shine.
Automated, you stand alone now,
A relic of a bygone time.

Gulls wheel and cry around your tower,

Their mournful voices echo yours.
Both guardians of this rocky coast,
Where restless waves assault the
shores.

Within, your spiral stairs still climb,

To that great lamp atop it all.
How many feet have worn these steps?
How many hands caressed this wall?

The logbook lies, its last page turned,

Ink faded, secrets locked away.
Stories of shipwrecks, rescues, ghosts,
Now lost like foam on yesterday's
spray.

Outside, the foghorn's mournful drone

Sounds less often as years progress.
GPS has made you obsolete,
Yet still you stand, in steadfastness.

On stormy nights, when thunder rolls,

And lightning splits the heaving sky,
Your light still turns, a steady pulse,
Defying darkness, sworn to try.

The fisher folk still bless your

presence,
Though their numbers dwindle too.
In a world of change, you're constant,
A promise kept, a bearing true.

But time and tide erode your base,

The cliff face crumbles, year by year.
How long before you topple down,
Into the waves you've held at bay?

For now, you stand, majestic, proud,

A lonely figure etched in light.
Last of your kind, a dying breed,
Still keeping vigil through the night.

When you are gone, what will remain?

A gap in coastline, nothing more.
Yet in the hearts of those you've
saved,
You'll shine forever, as before.

Lighthouse at world's end, fare thee

well,
Your duty done, your watch soon past.
May your light forever guide us,
In memory, steadfast to the last.