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Bulletin – Vol 9 No. 3 – May/June 2006

Miscellaneous

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Beacon of Hope

by Tony Dawson

Author Tony Dawson recently heard some of John Ibbotson’s lighthouse stories on 774 Melbourne radio, and thought Lighthouses of Australia would be interested in his poem "Beacon of Hope". He writes that he doesn't actually have an interest in lighthouses - just found it a good topic to bring home the point of the importance the job was to the dying breed!

BEACON OF HOPE

His old legs carried him
All the way to the peak
Three hundred steps to work
And all but one of them would squeak

He’d endeavour to maintain
That the lighthouse would always shine
And that that was his prime objective
Till the end of his own lifetime

All clear and he’d descend
To play chess with his distant mate
Eight thousand miles away
On an island of wind and slate

He thought his saddest day
Was when his mate had lost life’s race
But then he found it even sadder
When he didn’t know his face

The bitter pill had come
When gadgets took his place
The locals understood
This keeper with the angry face

So for the last time
He climbed the coiling stairs
To polish the mirror that saved the sailors
And gently wipe his tears

They gave him a cleaning job
In an office by the shore
And until his heart gave up the ghost
His grudge he’d always bore

Then one day a boy came by
And asked “are you lighthouse Jim”
He stood erect and answered yes
And the boy photographed him

He didn’t see the connection
That he’d made some history
The last human lighthouse keeper
To light the light that lit the sea….


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04/06/06
04/06/06