Ode to the Lighthouse at Charlevoix
by Michael Escoubas
After the painting by Paulette Demers Turco

I come to you often when in need
of a reference point,

when the cacophony of horns
and the nonstop chatter of life (so many

people talking, saying so little)
drives me to your rocky shores.

I do not fear the sea’s dark voice,
nor its grinding water and gasping wind.

A different kind of cargo
weighs me down. It is then

I find you, silent and waiting.
You remove my shoes, wash my toes

in warm waters, sloshing them among
tadpoles and minnows.

Like another Man of Sorrows
you dry them tenderly with the towel

and basin of love. As the summer
sun recedes, love is felt enflaming

sky and sea and heart. Rising, as if made new,
I walk away with a lighter step.



 

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