Iron teeth grip cypress knee
Salt wind sings through Taxodium
Porch boards warp where herons flee
Dusk paints brackish asterism
I hold the dark water down
No blossom breaks this iron crown
Tide brings nutrients round
Silent in the bayou ground
Fiddler crabs tap claws on rust
Spartina bends in evening gust
My fluorescence gathers dust
Time measured in sediment crust
I hold the dark water down
No blossom breaks this iron crown
Tide brings nutrients round
Silent in the bayou ground
Spanish moss drapes heavy shade
Epiphytes on porch beams laid
No photosynthesis blade
Just oxidation parade
Cypress knees like fingers pray
Storm clouds gather far away
But I was forged to watch and stay
Through hurricane and salt spray
I hold the dark water down
No blossom breaks this iron crown
Tide brings nutrients round
Silent in the bayou ground
Moon pulls water up the bank
Silver scales on surface shank
Nightjars call in descending rank
I anchor what the currents drank
I hold the dark water down
No blossom breaks this iron crown
Tide brings nutrients round
Forever in the bayou ground
Iron sleeps in silt and sound
Taxodium shadows wrap around