I often stay with Ingrid in Northern Germany

We are both artists but very different

I follow the American schools of colour

Whereas Ingrid is a landscape artist

She has a small studio near the harbour

Which commands towering views

Of the strange blue lighthouse

The actual lighthouse is not blue

It was painted black some years ago

But I cannot find out the reason why

Something to do with the seabirds

It is a very tall almost anorexic looking lighthouse

Which was built in the period following the war

After the original structure was destroyed

The odd thing about this lighthouse

Is its very inhibited illumination

Which seems to encourage the night

Ingrid has told me that it has a specialised beam

Which is more practical for distant ships

Its light unlike conventional lighthouses is blue

Which gives it an eerie almost ghost like appearance