Creosote poles stand sentinel straight
Pinus sylvestris guards the gate
Courier boots crush last year's needle fall
Azimuth shifts but I track it all
Magnetic deviation reads two degrees west
Mycorrhizal threads know better than the rest
Iron in blood aligns with iron in stone
True bearing grows where the taproot's grown
Ferrous roots hold the line where poles divide
Pinus sylvestris keeps the secret inside
Needle points north but the courier knows
True north grows where the cambium flows
Satchel leather creaks at forty degrees
Picea abies drips pitch on his knees
He checks my face then the fading light
Xylem rivers run deeper than sight
Magnetic deviation reads two degrees west
Mycorrhizal threads know better than the rest
Iron in blood aligns with iron in stone
True bearing grows where the taproot's grown
Ferrous roots hold the line where poles divide
Pinus sylvestris keeps the secret inside
Needle points north but the courier knows
True north grows where the cambium flows
Cross-grain tension in the telephone wire
Abies alba stands sentinel higher
He breathes in terpenes resin and rain
Phloem carries the sugar carries the pain
No map shows the mycelium map
No satellite reads the root-bound trap
But I feel the tremor in loam and clay
When he walks the bearing his own way
Ferrous roots hold the line where poles divide
Pinus sylvestris keeps the secret inside
Needle points north but the courier knows
True north grows where the cambium flows
Dawn fractures through Pinus nigra crown
Declination resolved the needle swings down
He shoulders the pack finds the game trail's start
Navigates now by the map in his heart
Ferrous roots hold the line where poles divide
Pinus sylvestris keeps the secret inside
Needle points north but the courier knows
True north grows where the cambium flows
True north grows where the cambium flows
Brass capsule warm from his palm's steady heat
North is wherever the roots complete
