Very touching, and insightful about the human experience. It made me think of whales and whaling in the era where sustaining the cultural hubs of Western civilization relied on keeping lamps lit at night, of the moments in Viktor Frankles camp memoirs where broken inmates or calloused guards still managed to cling to fragments of their humanity, of Stan Rogers's heartbreaking song "Last Watch" wherein a night guard says goodbye to the ship he loves and sees as a mirror to himself the night before she is scrapped... particularly the prayer at the end, "When men with torches come for her, let angels come for me."
Thoughtfully and tightly written. Hard stuff. Good stuff, though. Thank you for this.