My hull remembers Quercus grain
Salt etched deep in every vein
You watch from Salix shadowed bank
Roots drink slow from iron tank
Fog holds breath on rusted rail
Rowboat waits on copper veil
Two quiet hearts in steel dawn light
Tide turns slow through endless night
Phragmites whisper through the sleepers
Spartina counts the frozen keepers
Your branches trace the signal wire
My paint curls in the cold fire
Fog holds breath on rusted rail
Rowboat waits on copper veil
Two quiet hearts in steel dawn light
Tide turns slow through endless night
Typha heads shed velvet dust
On water stained with engine rust
You measure growth in annual rings
I count the miles in broken strings
Fog holds breath on rusted rail
Rowboat waits on copper veil
Two quiet hearts in steel dawn light
Tide turns slow through endless night
Nuphar pads float past my bow
Leaves unfold to catch the now
Your roots grip clay where ties decay
My oars rest gray in spectral spray
Locomotive sighs shake loose the years
Pollen falls on engineer's tears
We both know what silence means
Growth requires broken seams
Morning burns the mist to glass
Steel reflects the water's pass
You shed your seeds on cinder bed
I take the channel home instead
Fog lifts slow from rusted rail
Rowboat cuts the copper veil
Two quiet hearts in steel dawn light
Tide turns slow through endless night
Harmonies rise on falsetto flight
Oars dip deep in waking water
Roots and hull remember daughters
