Fog eats the canal stones at dawn
Compass needle shakes in my palm
Coffee thermos steams beside my boot
Bridge groans under tram rails' heavy root
I hold the line where water bends
No letter sent and no amends
Just rusted hinge and frozen breath
Guarding nothing only death
Courier's bag weighs heavy with rain
Addresses blurred on soggy paper plane
Regulars ask how long I'll stay
I wipe my hands and say all day
I hold the line where water bends
No letter sent and no amends
Just rusted hinge and frozen breath
Guarding nothing only death
Hammond drone from a barge radio
Leslie spins soft and low and slow
Brass section muffled by the mist
My fingers numb around my fist
Spring reverb on the canal walls
Delay rolls when the foghorn calls
Dub bass shakes the wooden planks
Steady now in stubborn ranks
Cook's grin in the window pane
Two eggs flipped through wind and rain
He knows the joke I tell myself
Bridge don't walk don't need no help
I hold the line where water bends
No letter sent and no amends
Just rusted hinge and frozen breath
Guarding nothing only death
Compass cracks but north stays true
Fog lifts slow in morning blue
Tram bell rings the changing shift
I pocket north I catch the drift
I hold the line where water bends
No letter sent and no amends
Just rusted hinge and frozen breath
Guarding nothing only death
Bridge held I held that's enough
Fog eats the stones I stay
Compass rests another day
