“Sailors assert that sometimes when the sea is greatly roused, something from out the midst of night and darkness calls them by name. He is still an aging man, though, and of course is not immune to the fears and anxieties that operate on one who is growing old. “At last it seems to him that the heavens, the water, his rock, the tower, the golden sandbanks, and the swollen sails, the sea-mews, the ebb and flow of the tide – all form a mighty unity, one enormous mysterious soul that he is sinking in that mystery, and feels the soul which lives and lulls itself.” He grows “intoxicated with happiness.” He becomes finely tuned to the natural rhythm of the island where the lighthouse sits. Though the man who hires him is a little skeptical about his fitness for the job due to his age, he gains the position nonetheless, and it is everything he thought it would be. I need to say to myself, ’Here you will remain. He tells his potential employer, “This place is one of those which I have wished for most ardently. Why does he want the job? He has spent his life wandering the world and yet never quite achieving his dreams and is ready to rest. The only candidate to present himself is the 70-year old “Yankee” (by way of Poland) named Skavinski.
Near the Isthmus of Panama a lighthouse keeper dies, and a replacement must be found quickly. This story is also known as “Latarnik” (I think) the Polish word for lighthouse keeper.
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