In the hush before the harbor

When the foam was cold and pale

Stood a boy with a borrowed lantern

And a heart that kicked the rail

Mother weaving in the doorway

Father bent above the keel

Said

“The world is more than water

More than nets and salted steel”

Every gull drew lines like runes

In the paper of the sky

Every wave that broke before him

Seemed to ask him

“Will you try?”

So he carved a secret compass

On the handle of his light

Turned his face toward distant headlands

And the teeth of coming night

Carry your lantern

Little one

Guard that coal against the rain

When the wind would tear it from you

Cup it close and speak its name

Storms will bruise your battered boat

Shorelines slip like shifting sand

Carry your lantern

Little one

Till the stars reach down a hand

First he walked the fisher’s pathways

Past the sheds and sleeping ropes

Out where broken anchors rusted

Half-forgotten

Half like hopes

Met a wanderer in gray

Sitting quiet on a stone

Eyes like storms that learned their lessons

Voice that sounded far from home

“Where you headed

Lantern-bearer?”

Asked the stranger

Soft and slow

“All the maps I’ve seen are missing

Every place I need to go”

Then the old one plucked a thistle

Let its silver seeds take flight

“Sometimes roads are born beneath you

Only when you trust your stride”

Carry your lantern

Little one

Guard that coal against the rain

When the wind would tear it from you

Cup it close and speak its name

Paths will twist through thorn and ash

Bridges burn on either hand

Carry your lantern

Little one

Till the hills learn where you stand

Through the lands of leaning heather

Where the barrows bruise the ground

Where the kings sleep wrapped in whispers

And no bird will cast a sound

He walked close and dimmed his lantern

Fearing what the dark might wake

But the earth remembered footsteps

Long before his would-be quake

Ghosts of crowns and broken banners

Fluttered from the sodden loam

Shadows reaching not for malice

Only searching for a home

He held up his little lantern

Hands that dared not start to shake

“Rest

” he whispered to the barrows

“Your long watch I will not break”

Carry your lantern

Little one

Guard that coal against the rain

When the cold of earlier ages

Tries to pull you back again

Ancient eyes will mark your flame

Weigh your heart in silent scan

Carry your lantern

Little one

Prove that mercy measures man

Past the downs to tangled forests

Where the river lost its name

Where the roots gripped bones of mountains

And the moss forgot the flame

There he stumbled

Bruised and bleeding

On a root like twisted steel

Lantern cracked upon the granite

Light ran thin as spider’s meal

There he lay among the needles

Night a weight upon his chest

Felt the old world fold around him

Like a cloak that would not rest

Something padded through the shadows

Eyes like ember

Fur like night

Not a hunter

But a watcher

Drawn in wonder to the light

“Why protect that fading candle?”

Rumbled low the forest-thing

“All the stars above are brighter

All the moons a whiter ring”

With a breath as small as raindrops

He replied

“Because it’s mine

Because someone far behind me

Set this little coal alight”

Carry your lantern

Little one

Guard that coal against the rain

Though the mighty scoff and question

What one flame can truly gain

Every beacon on a height

Once was only shaking hand

Carry your lantern

Little one

Till your trembling lights the land

So the beast bent down in silence

Curved its body round the flame

Shielded branches

Claws

And whiskers

From the bitter needles