Track Insight / Lyrics
Salt crust coats my iron throat today
No hull has pulled my chain since Saturday
The ferry horn stays silent in the gray
I count the gulls that steal the bait away
Tide chart pinned inside the pilot house
No passengers to argue, no one to rouse
The ramp lies cold as cast-off wedding vows
I dream of diesel smoke and harbor brows
Rust and tide, we wait for no man's plea
Heavy holds the line where land meets sea
Every ship that leaves takes part of me
But I stay put where the deep water be
Cabbie wisdom etched in corrosion rings
Meter don't lie 'bout the weight of things
I've hauled more grief than all the harbor brings
My fluke knows the bite of broken strings
Rust and tide, we wait for no man's plea
Heavy holds the line where land meets sea
Every ship that leaves takes part of me
But I stay put where the deep water be
Dawn breaks slow over the empty slip
No headlights sweep, no engine's dip
Just me and the mud and the rising tip
Of sun on water, a golden whip
First mate once tossed a coin in my crown
For luck against the drowning, going down
Now barnacles write their own renown
On metal flesh that never hits the town
Schedule board flaps loose in morning breeze
Blank squares where the ferry times should be
I'm ballast for a ghost memory
Anchored deep where the cold currents flee
Rust and tide, we wait for no man's plea
Heavy holds the line where land meets sea
Every ship that leaves takes part of me
But I stay put where the deep water be
Chain sings low as the sun climbs high
Rust and tide, just you and I
