So Said the Lighthouse Keeper

I am the very loneliest Of creatures in the universe Indeed I am an epitaph to Man For having witnessed mass destruction Like you've never dreamed and worse I fear I shall bear witness once again So said the lighthouse keeper As he struggled up the spiral stairs Which led him to the laser flare Which scanned the cosmic void Where keeping constant vigil He'd forewarn, this gallant guard of guards Beware all ships the space graveyard And its stones of asteroids For though my race was thought immune Themselves they did consume So be warned or be mourned tomorrow And from your deafess do desist And pray take heed of this For your present course Can only end in sorrow So said the lighthouse keeper As he wiped a teardrop from his nose Upon which his spectacles rose And gazed out to the stars And like a portrait still he stared And sighing to himself declared I must invent the perfect prayer Not yours, not mine, but ours Which in the name of charity Might lead us to Eternal Peace The ultimate philosophy Some simple, single phrase The old and much encumbered man Then came to rest with head in hand He thought And thought And thought away his last remaining day (Epilogue: When to his end the old man came Death told him "You'll not die in vain" And on his lips the fatal kiss was placed But from within his falling chest The old man uttered one last breath And had we heard his parting word We'd know that he had said.