The Searchlight Turns

For each of us the Searchlight turns and finds us standing still,
First Light catches us when young and eager for the thrill,
Learning to love and to give one’s heart away
As for those of us caught in the Searchlight’s first glare,
We give ourselves completely, risking all, we dare
To think our lives forever, trust that love is true.
Then the Light turns away, leaves us dark and cold
Looking into the distance we can see the new place lit
Our dreams in the distance like waves shattered into spray.

For each of us the Searchlight turns at a very different interval,
Taking with it, love and comfort, trust and innocence until
The time comes when the Light turns back catching us again.
We live with loneliness and anguish slowly fading day by day
Left only with the memory of what might have been and then
We lock up our secret lives, assured they will not come again
Find a way to walk in the dark, live our lives with compromise
Creatures of the night, we live in the shadow, pain in our eyes,
Till the memory of times in the Light are long ago and far away.

Then one day the Searchlight turns back catching us unaware
Caught in amber, we bask unsuspecting in the golden glow
Not realising this is just another interval in the long dark night
We hear the siren call, the distant foghorn’s intermittent cry
We think the eerie voice is calling our name, promising delight
This is the future, life as it will be – everything we hope to know.
But the Light is just another beast of prey, crushing those who dare.
The Searchlight turning finds me, lines me up, sets me in its sight
And uncaring, into the darkness tumbling, abruptly lets me go.