Cobblestones bite the frozen keel
Salt crust writes on steel
Gulls argue over scraps of eel
Engine sleeps no longer real
Red stack fading in the grey
Waiting for the spring to pay
Hymns hum low in diesel veins
Bless the rust bless the chains
Tires hang like dead man's skin
Fenders worn where hulls begin
Alley wind slips deep within
Torn flags whip where I have been
Red stack fading in the grey
Waiting for the spring to pay
Hymns hum low in diesel veins
Bless the rust bless the chains
Propeller locked in iron sleep
No wake to cut the water deep
Promises the harbors keep
Heavy chain in frozen heap
Red stack fading in the grey
Waiting for the spring to pay
Hymns hum low in diesel veins
Bless the rust bless the chains
Choir voice cracks on compression
Smoke rings rise but nothing spoke
Spring will crack the undertow
I’ll breathe fire watch it go
Red stack fading in the grey
Waiting for the spring to pay
Hymns hum low in diesel veins
Bless the rust bless the chains
Bless the rust bless the chains
Amen to the steel remains
Spring finds the red stack standing