Meryl Pugh
The lighthouse keeper
They come in here every month without asking,
banging open the door with crates and voices.
I’ll be up top with my pipe. I don’t answer:
it’s always the same. The noise as they dump their load
falters the further they wade into silence.
For a moment, you hear it invade them. Then off they go,
out past the beach where the boat is sulking,
onto the rocks, calling to gulls with purpose.
If I crane my neck, I can see the whole show;
the scratching of heads, the hands on hips. Only then
do I come down, treading the spiral
in my boots, heavy and slow so they’ll hear.
It makes me laugh; the running inside,
the turning around on the spot as they watch me descend,
their faces like rock pools reflecting the sky.
I know why they really come. Supplies? Yeah, right.
I imagine them back on the mainland, peering from windows
to where that great arm punches through fog.
In their heads, in the tip of my magic wand, I am hoarding
Madeira, Marsala, Calvados, gold.
banging open the door with crates and voices.
I’ll be up top with my pipe. I don’t answer:
it’s always the same. The noise as they dump their load
falters the further they wade into silence.
For a moment, you hear it invade them. Then off they go,
out past the beach where the boat is sulking,
onto the rocks, calling to gulls with purpose.
If I crane my neck, I can see the whole show;
the scratching of heads, the hands on hips. Only then
do I come down, treading the spiral
in my boots, heavy and slow so they’ll hear.
It makes me laugh; the running inside,
the turning around on the spot as they watch me descend,
their faces like rock pools reflecting the sky.
I know why they really come. Supplies? Yeah, right.
I imagine them back on the mainland, peering from windows
to where that great arm punches through fog.
In their heads, in the tip of my magic wand, I am hoarding
Madeira, Marsala, Calvados, gold.
Page(s) 23
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