The Lighthouse

I breathe the cursed air

haunted fog with spectral halos

white horse waves roll at my feet

tossing dead souls as a sacrifice

I tried to warn them

but they ignored my light

and let the salty darkness

obscure their vision

Skeletal driftwood

splintered and sharp

pierces the heart

of human apparitions

Hope and safety

fade into the gray

arms of false security

disappearing into the sea foam clouds

Shape shifting selkies

reborn from the lost

cry tears to the ocean

and return to its arms

But the burning flames of time

in broken lanterns and weathered beacons

cannot reply

to broken desperation

Nothing remains but

blurry memories

like old photos

curled and ragged

---

Cathy Joyce Lee can be found forest bathing at night and paddling on the river by day in Upstate New York. Cathy earned a Master's Degree in Public Administration. This led to her profession of writing health and wellness articles and offering professional development training programs to preschool teachers. Cathy is a member of the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators and has been published in Passager. It is the writer's hope that her poems will paint a picture in the mind of the reader that may be beautiful pastels or charcoaled darkness, both of which reflect life.