Plastic shell cracked by harbor stones
Magnetic ribbon bleached by bone
Dusk settles on the ferry wake
Songs dissolve in brine and ache
Cassette drifts where gulls cry sharp
No player left to catch the harp
Sydney lights blink through the spray
Melodies dissolve in gray
Case clicks open reels spill wide
Twisted brown on incoming tide
Kookaburra laughs at broken spool
Tide takes chorus leaves the rule
Cassette drifts where gulls cry sharp
No player left to catch the harp
Sydney lights blink through the spray
Melodies dissolve in gray
Walkman dead in drawer for years
Batteries leaked like lighthouse tears
Knew every pause every hiss and pop
Now the sea claims what won't stop
Cassette drifts where gulls cry sharp
No player left to catch the harp
Sydney lights blink through the spray
Melodies dissolve in gray
Harbor Bridge paints steel on water
Tape unspools like kelp in slaughter
Opera House sails catch last gold
Ribbon's story remains untold
Hands that trimmed wicks know this weight
Salt preserves what time creates
No rescue boat for analog ghost
Just wind and wave on rocky coast
Morning finds the case empty
Plastic husk on sandstone plenty
Reel-to-reel heart beat its last
Drowned in swell held by past
Cassette drifts where gulls cry sharp
No player left to catch the harp
Sydney lights blink through the spray
Melodies dissolve in gray
One last chord on rusted tape
Keeps the harbor's weary shape
Tide turns at dawn tape stays
Salt keeps what the sea obeys
