Porch boards creak above my crown
Spanish moss drapes hanging down Quercus virginiana spreads
Roots drink deep where water leads
Iron dreams in cypress shade
Rust blooms where the flood was made
Taxodium drinks the evening light
Anchor holds through fading night
Spartina sways in brackish breeze
I count the tides by degrees
Iron oxidizes slow
While cypress knees begin to grow
Iron dreams in cypress shade
Rust blooms where the flood was made
Taxodium drinks the evening light
Anchor holds through fading night
Fireflies trace phosphorus trails
Above the marsh where night prevails
My fluke digs deep in clay loam soil
No storm can shake this iron coil
Taxodium distichum stands sentinel
While I rust in quiet well
But when the hurricane wind screams loud
I'll hold the porch above the cloud
Dawn paints Iris virginica gold
New stories in the silt retold
My shank stays firm in sucking mud
Witness to the rising flood
Iron dreams in cypress shade
Rust blooms where the flood was made
Taxodium drinks the evening light
Anchor holds through fading night
Seasons stack like sediment layers
Cypress grows through human prayers
My iron song is rust and time
A heavy patient silent rhyme
Iron dreams in cypress shade
Rust blooms where the flood was made
Taxodium drinks the evening light
Anchor holds through fading night
Heavy waits for flood tide
Rust remembers what water gave
Iron sleeps beneath the wave
