by Eddie Aderne

“Last US lighthouse keeper steps down…
Sally Snowman… retires this weekend from her post looking after the first lighthouse
built in North America, on a tiny island in Boston harbour…”
—The Guardian

The Keeper of the First-Built Light
Departed with the Old Year’s flight:
For as the Old Year turned to flee,
The Keeper felt it bodily;
And as the Keeper’s body bent
It craved a calmer Element;
And since the Elements go on
When human builders all are gone,
And what they build must also go
Like houses lit or men of snow,
Just so the Light must pass at last
The point its Final Keeper passed.