You drove the night through Albuquerque rain
Meter ticking on a welded frame
Dashboard saint watches the engine breathe
Holy cards and rosary beads
Iron anchor unravels on veranda boards
Santa Fe dust settles on rusted chords
Chain links snap in the dry morning heat
You watch it fall beside your plastic seat
Fare was a ghost with a suitcase light
Paid in stories through the rearview night
Spoke of anchors holding ships in place
Now yours unwinds in desert space
Iron anchor unravels on veranda boards
Santa Fe dust settles on rusted chords
Chain links snap in the dry morning heat
You watch it fall beside your plastic seat
Morning coffee in a chipped white cup
Sunrise bleeds the purple mountains up
Anchor shivers as the chain gives way
Like fares that vanish with the day
Iron anchor unravels on veranda boards
Santa Fe dust settles on rusted chords
Chain links snap in the dry morning heat
You watch it fall beside your plastic seat
Mechanic says the rust ate through the core
Same as brakes on forty thousand more
You tip your cap to the unraveling
Drive off before the desert swallows all
Iron anchor unravels on veranda boards
Santa Fe dust settles on rusted chords
Chain links snap in the dry morning heat
You watch it fall beside your plastic seat
Iron anchor unravels on veranda boards
Santa Fe dust settles on rusted chords
Drive on, old wheel, the road knows your name