Old keeper walks the midnight shift
His beam cuts through the pump's steel gift
Salt air traded for exhaust fumes
He guards the crossroads' glowing plumes
Crossroads lantern swinging wide
Neon tangled in the tide
Foot stomps loud and voices rise
Watchman sees with ancient eyes
He knows the rhythm of the storm
Now reads the pulse of engines warm
No foghorn here just diesel cough
But duty calls him pulls him off
Crossroads lantern swinging wide
Neon tangled in the tide
Foot stomps loud and voices rise
Watchman sees with ancient eyes
The beetle bugs don't circle round
They die on glass on concrete ground
He sweeps the beam in steady arcs
Like sweeping lights from lighthouse sparks
Crossroads lantern swinging wide
Neon tangled in the tide
Foot stomps loud and voices rise
Watchman sees with ancient eyes
A trucker pauses buys a smoke
The keeper offers quiet joke
He says same work just different shore
Same light to guide you through the door
Cello cries like gulls at dawn
Banjo drives the rhythm on
Every soul that passes through
Gets a beam to see them true
Morning comes with graying sky
The neon fades but light won't die
Keeper folds his worn wool coat
Walks home to write his final note
Crossroads lantern swinging wide
Neon tangled in the tide
Foot stomps loud and voices rise
Watchman sees with ancient eyes
Crossroads lantern steady bright
Guides the lost through deepest night
Foot stomps fade on wooden floor
Keeper sleeps beside the shore
