Salt crusts the logbook binding tight
Kerosene burns through the night
Cliff path worn by thirty years
Tide marks carved in stone veneers
Case pops open on damp concrete
Horsehair sings on cracked backstreet
Rosin dust on calloused thumb
Blue notes rise from deep below
Lantern swings where bow meets string
Two solitudes learn how to sing
Lake wind howls but music holds
Stories traded never old
Fresnel glass catches first pale dawn
Log entry storm has passed and gone
Brass polished till it blinds the eye
Keeper watches gulls arc high
Lantern swings where bow meets string
Two solitudes learn how to sing
Lake wind howls but music holds
Stories traded never old
Pedal steel cries like gulls in flight
Harmonica breathes the harbor night
Upright bass walks the pier boards slow
Both men know what waters know
CTA rumbles overhead
Violin voice wakes the dead
Basement jazz club shakes the floor
Keeper's foot taps wanting more
Retirement papers filed away
New song starts another day
Light still sweeps the harbor mouth
Music guides the lost ships south
Lantern swings where bow meets string
Two solitudes learn how to sing
Lake wind howls but music holds
Stories traded never old
Final chorus lifts and breaks
Harbor sings what silence takes
Bow lifts lens turns dawn breaks