Your boots are slick with harbor diesel rain
The Rickenbacker hums beneath the grate
You count the stops between the pier and train
Three hundred twenty seconds to the gate
The fluorescent flicker paints your cheekbones pale
A hymn you forgot rises in your throat
The alto part you held when voices failed
Now breath is all that keeps the note afloat
Platform ghost you ride the underground
Platform ghost where water holds you down
The ferry light reflects on tunnel tile
You're standing still but moving half a mile
The conductor calls a station you don't know
Your badge catches green from emergency signs
You sang Te Deum twenty years ago
Now quiet is the only prayer that rhymes
The fluorescent flicker paints your cheekbones pale
A hymn you forgot rises in your throat
The alto part you held when voices failed
Now breath is all that keeps the note afloat
Platform ghost you ride the underground
Platform ghost where water holds you down
The ferry light reflects on tunnel tile
You're standing still but moving half a mile
A rat drags pizza crust past stainless steel
You tap the rhythm of a changed time sig
The math rock anger that you used to feel
Now lives in bass lines that you slowly dig
The East River glitters in your memory
The L train shudders through your chest tonight
You were the voice that held the harmony
Now you're the deckhand watching platform light
Platform ghost you ride the underground
Platform ghost where water holds you down
The ferry light reflects on tunnel tile
You're standing still but moving half a mile
Shift ends at four when dawn cracks gray and thin
You wipe the condensation from your watch
The choir director's voice lives in your skin
A fermata on a note you cannot catch
Platform ghost you ride the underground
Platform ghost where water holds you down
The ferry light reflects on tunnel tile
You're standing still but moving half a mile
Platform ghost the hymn is in your stride
Platform ghost the water turns to tide
You're standing still but moving half a mile
