Lighthouse
Usually, sailors look to a lighthouse as a sign that land is near
but you look to it to make sure that you’re still afloat
that you can still lock eyes with the sweeping beam
of this lighthouse seventeen meters away
This tower is a pale sea green,
blending in to the watercolor sky so that even in daylight
you have a blank canvas
and you are able to pretend
that you’re being guided towards your home shore
Its hallowed hello brings a smile that you would so readily, so rapidly return
if that little girl hadn’t breathed all over your glasses
and traced her pretty name with a pink-painted finger
scumbling your drift
making you squint to tell if your head and your heart
are still above water
if the beam has not forgotten you
and left you in the dark