And the Light Goes Out in Me

This poem was written in response to the Rattle® Poetry Ekphrastic Challenge for March 2023 and was ultimately not selected. You can find more information here.

https://www.rattle.com/ekphrastic/

And the Light Goes Out in Me

Tempests thrash at the cliffs

Headwinds howl in the night

Many a nor’easter rage

Against this beacon house of light

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Waves crash upon the rocks

Throwing brine into the air

I have seen many gales

From atop my watchtower there

-

I inhale the salty mist

From the ocean far below

Clouds comes down from heaven

While the gray closes in slow

-

But this fog is different

For it clutches at my mind

It chills me to my bones

My blood freezes from inside

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I have seen the life I’ve lived

Not much lies before me now

I hear the knocking at the door

Of what all men must face somehow

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Darkness spreads across my eyes

Until there is nothing left to see

My soul it soars with the gull

And the light goes out in me

Submitted under MRB