Beacon

"This way!" the actor cries, holding a lantern aloft

"Come now, my friends, before it is too late!"

robes swoosh as they motion us through the doorframe

into a hall of darkness and fluctuating lights

where we are entreated to save ourselves from the

impending doom of sea waves or an incoming storm --

Wish I had thought then to jot down these words

to describe the welling of poetic joy within me

and the exact eloquence of their statements which

I only echo now, reliving that moment through

the photos I snapped while lingering with them

even as compatriots were escorted to the next door,

urged on by another buoy in our string of rescuers,

me already inundated by the deluge of its elegance,

wishing to bottle it, to paint it, to live in it forever.

It was the perfect way to move us: through the space,

through the story, in ardent urgency and absolute delight.