Steadily upward, climbing to the lamphouse,
Attending to daily tasks to safeguard mariners.
Hundreds of steps leading to Fresnel glass,
To polish lens, and pump oil from below.
Twenty miles, piercing the black curtain,
Warning of shoals and points, directing home.
Image © Mark A Phillips
Verse © Mark A Phillips
Stairs of the Ponce Inlet lighthouse in Ponce Inlet, Florida.