You cut cartridge glass on a warped pine table
Soldering iron hisses rain on hot tin
Lead came bends slow around cobalt curves
Flux smoke rises where timetables faded
Kiln cools slow behind rusted semaphore
Pattern lines blur on the soot-stained cartoon
Copper foil wraps each jagged edge tight
Light bends hard through the fractures you made
Lead lines hold what the light shatters
Peeling paint maps the years on brick
Train whistles cut the dusk at six
You build windows no train will cross
Glass remembers the hand that scored it
Grozing pliers nip the red flash edges
Running pliers snap the score clean and sharp
Cartoon paper yellows on damp plywood
Brush marks show where the sun once hit
Kiln cools slow behind rusted semaphore
Pattern lines blur on the soot-stained cartoon
Copper foil wraps each jagged edge tight
Light bends hard through the fractures you made
Lead lines hold what the light shatters
Peeling paint maps the years on brick
Train whistles cut the dusk at six
You build windows no train will cross
Glass remembers the hand that scored it
Opalescent sheets catch the last westward sun
Cathedral blue throws shadows on your boots
Amber Rondel glows like a signal lamp
White antique streaks where the cutter slipped
Lead lines hold what the light shatters
Peeling paint maps the years on brick
Train whistles cut the dusk at six
You build windows no train will cross
Glass remembers the hand that scored it
Baggage cart wheels freeze on creosote ties
Telegraph wire hums a dead code home
Your fingers raw from the flux and the cold
Meter would read zero on this deadhead run
Lead lines hold what the light shatters
Peeling paint maps the years on brick
Train whistles cut the dusk at six
You build windows no train will cross
Glass remembers the hand that scored it
Panel fits slow into the warped oak frame
Putty knife smooths the grey against lead
Night falls hard on the depot roof
First star punctures the vitreous dark
Lead lines hold what the light shatters
Peeling paint maps the years on brick
Train whistles cut the dusk at six
You build windows no train will cross
Glass remembers the hand that scored it
Lead lines hold what the light shatters
Harpsichord ticks the last fare home
Cello bow lifts from the string
