Lighthouse Cove is an
actual place near my home town and where
I have spent countless hours fishing the
flats of the Texas Coastal Bay system
for Redfish and Trout. The lighthouse
was built in the 1850's marking the pass
that La'Salle accidentally discovered a
few hundred years earlier . It is
constructed of steel and has stood the
test of time as a sentinel or watchman
over the Texas Coast for 165 years. I
have always had a sense of awe fishing
near this huge structure, and yet it
seems so "lost." While the pass it marks
is still there, no ships come and go any
longer. The tides have made it too
shallow, and now there is a pair of huge
rock jetties down the beach a couple of
miles that open the gulf up to the sea
for modern ships. So, I chose to
recreate this beacon of light in its
glory days before the civil war, where
the light keeper lived a lonely life
many islands away from the mainland of
Texas. I like the allegory this scene
represents. Often, we must stand alone,
feeling separate from the world, if we
want to shine a light to those who are
lost. I don't mean a light of moral
living. This ultimately points to
ourselves. No, I'm talking about the
light of love that shines out and pours
over those who are floundering and
feeling a sense of loss or doom. No one
is ever drawn to morality, but rather
they are drawn to love. The warm light
of this Texas sunrise and the Matagorda
Island Light is a picture of your life.
Let it shine.
~ Mark Keathley
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