Retired lamp wick salt in my hands
Carved the pumpkin on the stands
Rain slicks the wood where I sit slow
Atlantic breathes a heavy blow
Porch light flickers sea wind blows
Jack-o'-lantern watches those
Salt air cuts the candle flame
Halloween knows every name
Thirty years I kept the tower
Light swept the dark each stormy hour
Now a gourd grins where I rock
Smaller beam but holds the clock
Porch light flickers sea wind blows
Jack-o'-lantern watches those
Salt air cuts the candle flame
Halloween knows every name
Triangle eyes and jagged grin
Let the night tide rush on in
Wax drips slow on weathered plank
Flame don't beg and flame don't shrink
Porch light flickers sea wind blows
Jack-o'-lantern watches those
Salt air cuts the candle flame
Halloween knows every name
Children come in wool and mask
Ask the sea its ancient task
I drop candy in their sacks
While the surf rolls thunder back
No fresnel lens no brass no glass
Just a rind that lets light pass
But the keeper watches still
Same dark water same iron will
Midnight strikes the buoy bell deep
Pumpkin smiles in its cold sleep
I'll tend this flame till morning gray
Then pack the light for one more day
Porch light flickers sea wind blows
Jack-o'-lantern watches those
Salt air cuts the candle flame
Halloween knows every name
Halloween knows every name
Ember dies on rain-slick wood
Keeper walks where keepers stood
