The Ladies of Horror
Picture-Prompt Writing Challenge!

The Lighthouse  
by Alex Grehy

Come to my kindly light, I can ease life’s bitter squalls,

Do not believe what superstitious sailors say,

For what is death if not the safest haven of them all?

.

See the sailor’s wives, bowed shoulders wrapped in shawls,

standing on the cloud-tossed shore. Listen to them pray, 

Come to my kindly light, I can ease life’s bitter squalls,

.

Their stern-gazed men turn hopeless to the boats, to toil, to trawl,

better to face the cruel sea than starving children, pinch-faced, grey,

For what is death if not the safest haven of them all?

.

In the harbour chapel, women gather to the lay priest’s call,

preaching of eternal light, he bids them cast out their dismay,

Come to my kindly light, I can ease life’s bitter squalls,

.

Monstrous waves foam on the rocks, storm winds bawl,

yet on the reef, my light shines bright through spume and spray,

For what is death if not the safest haven of them all?

.

They cannot avoid the skerry’s embrace, they come, in thrall,  

though wild captains at their helms cry “steer away!”

Come to my kindly light, I can ease life’s bitter squalls,

For what is death if not the safest haven of them all?

.

Fiction © Copyright Alex Grehy
Image courtesy of Pixabay.com

More from author Alex Grehy:

Alex Grehy’s (she/her) work has been published in a range of zines worldwide including Luna Station Quarterly, Aphotic Realm and The Sirens Call as well as anthologies published by Water Dragon Publishing and Red Penguin. Her essays on being a “Lady of Horror” have featured in the Horror Writers Association Newsletter and The Horror Tree blog. Her words are also available via a global network of prose & poetry dispensers run by French publisher Short Edition.  She is recognised for her original view of the world, expressed in vivid prose and thought-provoking poetry.

Please click here to discover more!