Salt crusted boots on the porch floor boards
Greenhouse leans where the nor'easter roars
Cracked panes rattle in their wooden frame
Calico came and she called it name
She don't meow for a bowl of cream
Just watches the beam cut the heavy stream
Her eyes like lanterns amber and wide
Reflecting the sweep of the turning tide
The calico sleeps where the glass gave way
Three colors curled in the gray of day
The wind sings sharp but the light stays put
She knows the lens and the lamp's old rut
Kerosene scent on the wool coat sleeve
I trimmed the wick on the Christmas Eve
Now I trim the glass where the putty's gone
The cat don't mind if the light stays on
The calico sleeps where the glass gave way
Three colors curled in the gray of day
The wind sings sharp but the light stays put
She knows the lens and the lamp's old rut
Storm surge pounds the foundation stones
The Fresnel lens in the tower moans
But here in the greenhouse warm and small
The calico sleeps through it all
Morning breaks with a salt-rusted sky
The cracked panes glow where the gulls fly high
Three colors stretch on the potting bench
Claws in the dirt no need to clench
I'll patch the glass with a sailor's knot
Tar and putty in the parking lot
She'll watch me work with a lazy blink
Keeper's cat she don't need to shrink
The calico sleeps where the glass gave way
Three colors curled in the gray of day
The wind sings sharp but the light stays put
She knows the lens and the lamp's old rut
The calico sleeps where the glass gave way
Three colors curled in the gray of day
The wind sings sharp but the light stays put
She knows the lens and the lamp's old rut
The beam sweeps slow the cat don't roam
Greenhouse glass and a keeper's home
