Dave Bonta's short poem captures the helpless feeling of lying awake when sleep refuses to come. The speaker is "long awake," and their thoughts won't stay still. Two images try to pin down that restlessness.
The first is a lapwing, a bird known for its flapping, erratic flight, with the mind "all a-flutter" like something that can't land. The second image is a lighthouse, whose beam sweeps round and round, "away and away." It feels different from the bird. The flutter is anxious and jittery, while the lighthouse is steadier, a mind sweeping over the dark again and again without ever resting on anything.
The mood is tired, uneasy and a little hypnotic. The repeated "away" suggests thoughts drifting off just as the speaker tries to grasp them. There's no solution at the end, only the sense of a night that keeps going.