The Light Keep

The Light Keep

Kathleen McNamara



There is lore among the locals
the story set to verse
about the lonely coastal sentry
and a light keep with a curse.

While walking the rocky shoreline,
the lighthouse straight ahead,
I saw someone on the rundown porch
under a sky as gray as lead.

He waited for me patiently
as I entered the weedy yard.
He glanced at the sky and said to me,
“Tonight a gale blows hard.”

No pleasantries passed between us
though I’m sure that he did guess
the reason for my visit.
I hoped he’d answer my request.

Before I could even say a word
he motioned towards the light
and began to tell the story
of that deadly storm-filled night.

“The keeper was a young man
who had never faced a gale.
How he reacted to the storm-tossed sea
is the reason for this tale.”

“It was fear of death that drove the man
to abandon this lonely post.
With no light to guide them through the waves
two ships sank off the coast.”

“A hundred lives were lost at sea
for lack of a guiding light.
A bounty was placed upon his head
to thwart the light keep’s flight.”

“They found him cowering in the woods
and returned him to stand trial.
When confronted with the charges
he offered no denial.”

“Before the final ruling
a grieving widow did foretell
an eternity of sorrow and torment…
no heaven, only hell.”

“He was hung upon a yardarm.
A storm blew up that night.
It was then the hauntings started
and the tales of the spectral lights.”

I asked him how he knew all this,
the details and history.
The grim words echoing as he vanished,
“The cursed light keep? I am he.”