Coffee steam rises from chipped white mugs
Fisherman sits by the fogged plate glass
Brick sidewalk glistens with harbor rain
He watches the tide through the morning pass
Cobblestone tide rolls slow beneath his boots
Autumn wind carries the salt and the soot
He waits for the light on the Long Wharf tower
Counting the hours by the gulls' cold power
Griddle sings low with its bacon hymn
His hands are rope-knotted and weather-trimmed
Nor'easter blew through the North End streets
Left history scattered in wet concrete sheets
Cobblestone tide rolls slow beneath his boots
Autumn wind carries the salt and the soot
He waits for the light on the Long Wharf tower
Counting the hours by the gulls' cold power
Regulars know him as Captain John
Thirty years since the Vigilant sailed on
She sits in the mud off Deer Island shoal
Barnacled ribs where the black kelp rolls
Cobblestone tide rolls slow beneath his boots
Autumn wind carries the salt and the soot
He waits for the light on the Long Wharf tower
Counting the hours by the gulls' cold power
Pancake batter drips slow on the steel
He traces the mortar with calloused heel
Mortar and brick since sixteen-thirty-three
Outlast the hurricane, outlast the sea
Cobblestone tide rolls slow beneath his boots
Autumn wind carries the salt and the soot
He waits for the light on the Long Wharf tower
Counting the hours by the gulls' cold power
Brick remembers what the ocean stole
He'll still be sitting when the bells toll
