The Lighthouse Keeper

Chan Hwi (Matthew) Cho, 2T5 MAM

Artist’s Statement: This piece was inspired by a conversation I had with a brilliant physician who compared their role to that of a lighthouse keeper—someone who guides and serves as a source of hope for those that are sick/lost. I wanted to contrast this profoundbelief in their work to the skepticism rampant in our day and age, and ultimately offer the conclusion I came to as a medical student.

---

As another falls victim
to the sea,
I wonder how the lighthouse keeper stands so strong,

Day and night,
they guide the lost,
who wander, wander, wander... desperately fighting in troubled waters,

What does the keeper see
within the tempest’s heart
that makes them want to stay?
I am tempted to turn my head away,

As all I see
are fleeting thoughts, drowning boats becoming specks of dust,

Only a fool
would dare disturb
the wheel that turns
and the scythe that waits below.

Still, the keeper remains, continuing to shine
their meager light
in hopes of buying time,

Not from pity,
or detached duty,
but a lifelong search
for meaning and beauty,

And for one split instant, they turn the sea of dust into a sky—limitless,
a canvas of blinding stars,

I have seen this sky
with my own two eyes,
I wish to paint it someday with my own two hands.

Perhaps a modest light is all one needs
to row against the world, blindly into a storm.