The Lighthouse Wreck

The wreck sat out by the lighthouse where

It lay, smashed up on the rocks,

A miracle it had survived at all

Where felons sat in the stocks.

The bow was sundered, the masts had gone

Long lost in a winter storm,

But still it lay where it lies today

Since before I was even born.

The Lighthouse stands like a monument

But without a single light,

Where once it saved from disaster all

The ships, with its beam at night,

But that was the days of the clipper ships

That would call in from the Cape,

Except for the ‘Traveller Grimm’ that slipped

On the rocks, and didn’t escape.

Those of the crew who didn’t drown

Had sworn there wasn’t a light,

Nothing to cut through the inky black,

There wasn’t a Moon that night,

The first they knew was a grinding crunch

As the keel drove up on the reef,

And then the Lighthouse had loomed on up

From the dark, like a midnight thief.

Often we’d go when the tide was low

Young Jack, and Jenny and me,

Down to the shore where we could explore

Just what was left in the sea.

And then we would climb the Lighthouse stair

Hang out from the very top,

Where once the light had beamed out at night,

Gaze down at the terrible drop.

Then Jack had bet us we couldn’t stay

Up there by the light all night,

Without a candle or torch with us

To give us a comforting light,

So up we went in the afternoon

To wait till the sun went down,

Then sat and shivered, there in the gloom,

There was blackness all around.

The sea was muttering round the rocks

Below, till the storm came in,

Then clashed and smashed where the wreck was docked

We seemed to sway with the wind,

The sound came up like the cries of men

Adrift in a cruel sea,

Then Jenny cried, ‘that was how they died,

Or that’s how it seems to me.’

She climbed up onto the parapet

And swayed there, looking down,

And Jack said that he would join her there,

While I held back, and frowned.

The two were standing and holding hands

When Jenny tripped on the ledge,

So when she toppled, she took him down,

While I just clung to the edge.

I heard them hit on the ‘Traveller Grimm’,

On what was left of the deck.

They both had died from a stupid whim,

As both had a broken neck.

I never went back to that Lighthouse stair,

They sealed it up, like a tomb,

Then put up a sign that said ‘Beware’,

That glows at night in the gloom.

David Lewis Paget

Reviews

[Pragati Chaudhary]

I could just imagine the horrific experience that could have been.
You took us in that Lighthouse with us.
Beautiful imagination and an amazzzzzzzzzzzzzzing writeup :)

[Pscanlon123]

I really enjoyed how the lines are consistent. I enjoy the wording in the second paragraph, overall very good poem. I would change the line about broken neck, it sticks out a little to me

[TPK Stories]

Eerily tragic but well written...a good read...

[Tony Jordan]

Got a proper chill from this one DLP.
Fantastic imagery and suspense building and of course a message within 'let sleeping dogs lie' perhaps?
Great to read you once more my friend.

[Coyote Poetry]

A very good tale written my friend. You set-up the story with great skill. I liked the ending. The sea always win. Thank you for sharing the outstanding story.
Coyote