Salt crusts my hinge joints every dawn
First ferry cuts the grey withdrawn
Coins stack in copper towers tall
Receipts flutter on the wall
I rise and fall in three-beat time
Each crossing writes a tiny line
No passenger knows my name
But I remember every claim
Hydraulic blood runs thick and slow
Winter makes the metal groan
A child drops a plastic token
I catch it where the light is broken
I rise and fall in three-beat time
Each crossing writes a tiny line
No passenger knows my name
But I remember every claim
Gulls cry above the vacant deck
No boots sound on the steel grate
Timetable holds though ships run late
I lift for those who cannot wait
I rise and fall in three-beat time
Each crossing writes a tiny line
No passenger knows my name
But I remember every claim
Modular pulse beneath my skin
Synth heart beats where the rust begins
Three-four time on wooden bone
I stand until the last is gone
Peeling paint shows every year
Each layer drinks the ferry's wake
Summer crowds all disappear
I stand for keeper's sake
I rise and fall in three-beat time
Each crossing writes a tiny line
No passenger knows my name
But I remember every claim
Up down up the dawn keeps climbing
Steel breath at first light
Counting each crossing
