Darkness Shaping Light

For now it flickers,
the porchlight left on
for the return of our souls.

We fear the bulb may crack
in the weight of darkness,
and not that far away
the lighthouse pulse
grows dimmer,
its revolution slowing down,
ghost ships in the night
wailing blindly for shore,
the light from our eyes
not bright enough
to lead them home.

Robert S. King, Athens GA, is cofounder of FutureCycle Press. His poems appear widely, including Chariton Review, Kenyon Review, Midwest Quarterly, and Southern Poetry Review. He has published nine poetry collections, most recently Developing a Photograph of God (2014), Messages from Multiverses (2020), and Selected Poems (2023).