I know the weight of iron in my palms
I know the weight of incense in my lungs
Salt rope burns through calloused fingertips
Diesel wakes before the harbor slips
Coal cars wait where switching signals freeze
Fog eats the numbers painted on the keys
Rust and hymn don't ask for permission
They just settle in the bone
One foot on the ferry's steel transition
One knee on the pews I've known
Tide charts stained with coffee rings and grease
Locomotive breathes a low release
Latin responses rise from engine rooms
Altos hum through piston smoke and fumes
Rust and hymn don't ask for permission
They just settle in the bone
One foot on the ferry's steel transition
One knee on the pews I've known
Candle wax drips on the signal box
Holy water in the ballast tanks
Choir robes hung where brake lines used to lock
Psalms keep time with coupling rods and clanks
Rust and hymn don't ask for permission
They just settle in the bone
One foot on the ferry's steel transition
One knee on the pews I've known
No confession booth at the roundhouse door
No holy water in the bilge pump's roar
Just the rhythm of a heavy foot
Beating time on steel and root
Morning burns the mist from deck and rail
Organ drones through Leslie's spinning veil
I load the chains and sing the final line
Where iron ends and something maps the divine
Rust and hymn don't ask for permission
They just settle in the bone
One foot on the ferry's steel transition
One knee on the pews I've known
Rust and hymn — I carry both back home
Iron in the palm, incense in the lung
Rust and hymn, forever young
