Rekindling Glory

By day it was merely a line;
the bottom in ocean, the top in the sky;
a giant appearing benign
when seen through a distant and innocent eye.

The keeper, with cloth and with rod,
on legs made of granite, his weary brow damp;
ascended like Jacob to God;
rekindling glory with labor and lamp.

The mariners, weary and wise,
returning from ports in the Orient found,
when stars had been lost to their eyes,
a magical beacon for those homeward bound;

A sentinel searching the night;
a modern descendent, who honors the name,
of Pharos; the island of light;
antiquity's wonder of welcoming flame.