I hold the map from eighty-two
Its edges frayed by salt and dew
The rail yard sleeps in fog so thick
No whistle blows no engine click
Ink lines tremble on the paper skin
Station names wear thin and dim
Fogged map glows in keeper's hand
Guiding ghosts across the land
Lines and stations fade to gray
I watch the night turn into day
Compass needle stuck on north
Silent rails give quiet worth
The tunnels breathe with rusted breath
Old schedules sleep in dust and death
I trace the routes with calloused thumb
No passengers no drum no hum
Tile walls drip with mineral tears
Echoes lost in vanished years
The fog rolls in like tide at dawn
Swallows signals switches gone
My lantern swings on iron rail
A steady beam through ghostly veil
Cobwebbed maps hold secrets deep
Promises the shadows keep
Fogged map glows in keeper's hand
Guiding ghosts across the land
Lines and stations fade to gray
I watch the night turn into day
Compass needle stuck on north
Silent rails give quiet worth
Once I kept the cliffside light
Now I guard the underground night
Same steady hand same watchful eye
Different dark same sea and sky
Salt wind trades for steel and stone
But the watch remains my own
Morning comes the fog will lift
The map folds up a quiet gift
I walk the tracks where shadows crept
And keep the promises I kept
Brass key turns in locker door
Shift ends on the concrete floor
Fogged map glows in keeper's hand
Guiding ghosts across the land
Lines and stations fade to gray
I watch the night turn into day
Compass needle stuck on north
Silent rails give quiet worth
Fogged map rests in wooden drawer
Till next night calls me to the shore