Gravel bites my boot heel at dusk
Diesel fades on peeling hull paint
Salt crust forms a white husk on cuff
No saint ever blessed this restraint
Altos rise in chest like musk
This gravel hymn holds no choir loft
Just pines and wind and twilight
My voice cracks on the highest note
Barnacles sing softer each night
Anchor rests in driveway gravel
Rope burns healed to white lines on palms
Compass needle spins on cracked glass face
Storm psalms settle in calloused palms
No mirror reflects the years that pass
Breath shapes notes in cooling air
This gravel hymn holds no choir loft
Just pines and wind and twilight
My voice cracks on the highest note
Barnacles sing softer each night
Anchor rests in driveway gravel
Canvas folded smells of tar and time
Sextant rusts on mantle shelf pine
No rhythm left but tide and rhyme
Pine shelves hold no charts to define
Alto timbre dark as wine
Moon climbs mastless flagpole slow
Sheets hung heavy dew soaked cotton
No bell calls me back to watch
Only gravel knows my step
This gravel hymn holds no choir loft
Just pines and wind and twilight
My voice cracks on the highest note
Barnacles sing softer each night
Anchor rests in driveway gravel
Porch light swings on chain link sway
Stray cat sleeps on warm engine block
No harbor master checks the bay
Cast iron holds heat like kettle clock
Final verse sung soft and low
This gravel hymn holds no choir loft
Just pines and wind and twilight
My voice cracks on the highest note
Barnacles sing softer each night
Anchor rests in driveway gravel
Felt keys catch salt air
Gravel holds the final chord
