Three AM on Cortlandt Street
Iron frame in concrete sleep
Quercus wheels turn oxide red
Phloem cables snap like thread
Rust bloom opens on the steel
Nightshade flowers on the wheel
Dormancy breaks in subway air
Silent growth no witness there
Double bass hums platform deep
Rhodes keys wake while city sleeps
Muted trumpet calls the hour
Chlorophyll yields to iron power
Rust bloom opens on the steel
Nightshade flowers on the wheel
Dormancy breaks in subway air
Silent growth no witness there
Senescense paints the handlebars
Abscission drops the greeting stars
Xylem tubes once carried light
Now hold darkness through the night
No photosynthesis here
Only rust that draws near
Patient as the soil knows
Everything that grows let go
Handlebar tape unravels slow
Like root hairs letting go
Saddle leather cracks and dries
Mycorrhizae in disguise
Rust bloom opens on the steel
Nightshade flowers on the wheel
Dormancy breaks in subway air
Silent growth no witness there
Morning trains will shake the ground
But he remains forever bound
Not abandoned just transformed
Botany in steel performed
Rust bloom opens on the steel
Nightshade flowers on the wheel
Dormancy breaks in subway air
Silent growth no witness there
Rust bloom opens on the steel
Nightshade flowers on the wheel
Patient as the soil
Patient as the soil