Tugboat rests at pier forty-two
Lantern swings on rusted rail blue
Hull keeps watch where manuscripts sleep
Salt air turns each page slow and deep
Iron guardian reads without eyes
Steel ribs shelter what time denies
No storm reaches these shelf-lined floors
Tugboat guards the knowledge doors
Deckhand reads a logbook by light
Winch cable groans through archive night
Catalog cards in salt-stained drawers
Tide charts mark the scholarly hours
Iron guardian reads without eyes
Steel ribs shelter what time denies
No storm reaches these shelf-lined floors
Tugboat guards the knowledge doors
Foghorn calls through reading room hush
Propeller turns in sediment crush
Ink bleeds slow in pressure dark
Hull absorbs each question mark
Engine room breathes in rhythmic sway
Pistons pump the night away
No lighthouse beam can guide this craft
Only words both fore and aft
Morning paints the water steel gray
Deck shoes shuffle quiet way
Scholars climb the gangplank stair
Find their books still waiting there
Iron guardian reads without eyes
Steel ribs shelter what time denies
No storm reaches these shelf-lined floors
Tugboat guards the knowledge doors
Logbook closes, voyage done
Salt and ink become as one
Anchor drops in archive air
Knowledge safe in iron care
Iron guardian reads without eyes
Steel ribs shelter what time denies
No storm reaches these shelf-lined floors
Tugboat guards the knowledge doors
Salt and ink forevermore
Engine rests on manuscript tide
Salt and ink turn side by side