Tarred planks drink the brackish air
Switchman checks the signal glare
Quercus ribs hold sodium light
Steel wheels scream through dead of night
Root systems map the silty floor
Boxcars groan on corrugated shore
Iron kelp sways where the freight lines run
Salt eats paint before the rising sun
No timetable for the bloom or rust
Just gravity and gravity's trust
Iron kelp sways where the freight lines run
Coal dust settles on the gunwale wood
Spores colonize where creosote stood
Manifest lists tonnage grade and weight
Nature logs the decay rate
Whistle cuts the morning mist
Photosynthesis persists
Iron kelp sways where the freight lines run
Salt eats paint before the rising sun
No timetable for the bloom or rust
Just gravity and gravity's trust
Iron kelp sways where the freight lines run
Ballast stones are ancient seed
Locomotive breath feeds the weed
Xylem pulls the heavy dew
Pistons drive the schedule through
Patience measured in growth rings
Power measured in coupling springs
Iron kelp sways where the freight lines run
Salt eats paint before the rising sun
No timetable for the bloom or rust
Just gravity and gravity's trust
Iron kelp sways where the freight lines run
Yard dog barks at nothing seen
Mycelium connects the green
Deadhead rolling east to west
Tidal rhythm puts the rest
Coupler clicks a metallic kiss
Root hairs clutch the gravel abyss
Fog lifts slow revealing track
Boat tied off fore and aft
Steel and wood in silent pact
No departure no return just act
Photosynthesis on the rail
Carbon fixed in iron veil
Salix bends where signals stand
Oil cans leak on weathered land
Zostera dreams in diesel deep
Engineer wakes from fitful sleep
Season turns the yard to loam
Steel returns to elemental home
Iron kelp sways where the freight lines run
Salt eats paint before the rising sun
No timetable for the bloom or rust
Just gravity and gravity's trust
Iron kelp sways where the freight lines run
Iron kelp sways where the freight lines run
Oars rest on the gunwale wood
Silence grows where the rails once stood