“I am a lighthouse,” said the child
Hands on hips, feet firmly planted
For one so small he looked quite wild
Wild, crazed, perhaps enchanted
“When I turn on my light,” he stated
Pointing to headlamp on head
“I can change what has been fated
I can warn what is ahead.”
“I am a lighthouse,” said the child
Cars were whizzing by so fast
He crossed through traffic quite unriled
The median strip he reached at last
He stood as tall as eight years let him
Changed the headlamp to rapid blink
Though tears streamed down, his face was grim
As he boldly faced that brink
Police were called, his mom tracked down
(Frantic worry filled her heart)
Traffic there was detoured ’round
His mom tried not to fall apart
Policeman recognized the mom
“Is this the day? Is this the place?”
She nodded, anything but calm
As tears rolled down her haggard face
Trembling she said, “His sister died here.
He witnessed it and hasn’t spoken
’til today after a whole year!
Finally, something has awoken.”
This is my response to the W3 challenge this week: “Be the Lighthouse.”
For this week’s prompt, you are the lighthouse. Write a poem in which the speaker is a lighthouse guiding something away from danger, toward safety, or both.
I struggled with this. A lot.
Finally, this cheesy story came out that didn’t meet the criteria. The author of the poem isn’t the lighthouse. Also, it was supposed to be 23-25 lines. There are a 28 lines up there.
Hot Dogs and Marmalade 
Wow. Unexpected.
beautiful story poem
A deeply moving and hauntingly piece, capturing a specific, heavy kind of grief that leaves a child feeling both powerless and desperately protective.🩷
I don’t think your poem is cheesy at all. You have touched on the emotions of grief and how the main character of the poem dealt with it.
Sally this is such a poignant story.
Sally, I love the hope of a child to be able to warn and change things, this was really touching💞
I’m glad you bent the rules a little. This is a sweet poem! (and a bit of a tear jerker as well! )
Sally, my apolgies. I missed your poem on my passes through Blenza’s list of links. Fatigue and pain got the better of me. I’ve now exceeded my capacity so this will have to be brief.
Your poem is a strong narrative work with real stakes, and the emotional turn is well earned. It’s a compelling and well-controlled poem, even if it approaches the prompt more obliquely, as you acknowledge.
Dennis
That poem was so sad, Sally! Well done!
Yvette M Calleiro 🙂
http://yvettemcalleiro.blogspot.com
Sally, “I can change what has been fated” really hit me. It shows how much he believes in what he’s doing. This feels really powerful to me.
~David
Fantastic little loving story within your poem. Well done, Sally 👏
hi, Sally❣️
Just wanna let you know that this week’s W3, hosted by our beloved Lesley, will be live until Monday, March 30:
Much love, David