Mist clings low to Herengracht
Iron sentinel wakes at last
Cast in nineteen-hundred-two
Holds the bridge where trams rush through
Iron root in silted bed
Guards the bridge where waters spread
Fog may cloak the canal's throat
Anchor keeps its silent note
Salix alba weeps nearby
Phragmites stand in frozen tide
Anchor drinks the ferric tea
Patient as a Quercus tree
Iron root in silted bed
Guards the bridge where waters spread
Fog may cloak the canal's throat
Anchor keeps its silent note
Sequencer pulses cold and deep
Kicks distort the water's sleep
Bass like roots in anoxic soil
Anchor bears the bridge's toil
Fog lifts slow on Oudezijds
Steel inhales where sunlight hides
Each bolt a node, each chain a vein
Iron lives through frost and rain
Dawn fractures on the IJ's grey skin
Light touches where the rust begins
Anchor hums a metallic song
Where Taxus roots belong
Iron root in silted bed
Guards the bridge where waters spread
Fog may cloak the canal's throat
Anchor keeps its silent note
Centuries may pass away
Anchor holds the bridge today
In the silt it finds its peace
Iron root will not release
Iron root in silted bed
Guards the bridge where waters spread
Fog may cloak the canal's throat
Anchor keeps its silent note
Iron root will not let go
Iron root holds fast
Winter fog cannot last
