Brass clicks in my palm at noon
Sun bleaches the canyon walls
Second hand sweeps dust from glass
Shadow stretches long and tall
It hums beneath the mesa light
Brass heart beating through the night
Time holds its breath in copper veins
We wait for what the watch retains
Altos rise in dry wind now
Hymn fragments float on heated air
Grandmother's prayer in metal throat
Notes we swore we'd forgotten there
Canyon swallows each tick whole
Canyon answers low and slow
My thumb finds the worn engraving
Initials faded gold still showing
It hums beneath the mesa light
Brass heart beating through the night
Time holds its breath in copper veins
We wait for what the watch retains
No hands to wind it none remain
Yet still it sings in sun and rain
A choir of one a single tone
Calling us back to what we've known
Pocket warm against my chest
Desert sings the old hymn best
Brass hum maps the canyon floor
We are here and nothing more
It hums beneath the mesa light
Brass heart beating through the night
Time holds its breath in copper veins
We wait for what the watch retains
Brass hum stays when we are gone
Hum remains beneath the sun