Peeling paint falls like dead kelp strips
Camera box on a bench seat sits
Brass barrel gleams where the dust don't land
Waiting for a steady hand
Chemicals crystallized in the jar
Salt eats the labels near and far
Darkroom reeks of low tide rust
Every negative earned its trust
Salt on the lens and salt on the film
Old depot keeps the moments still
Click the shutter hold the line
Expose the truth to passing time
Timetable glass cracked by frost bite
Camera waits through the long depot night
Leather bellows cracked like hemp rope lines
Focus sharp where the sunlight shines
Chemicals crystallized in the jar
Salt eats the labels near and far
Darkroom reeks of low tide rust
Every negative earned its trust
Salt on the lens and salt on the film
Old depot keeps the moments still
Click the shutter hold the line
Expose the truth to passing time
Conductor whistle cuts the salt haze
Camera lifts for the coming days
Viewfinder frames the rusted track
No going forward no going back
Lantern room knows this lonely vigil
Keeper watches the beam turn subtle
Each exposure a log entry made
Light captured before it starts to fade
Salt on the lens and salt on the film
Old depot keeps the moments still
Click the shutter hold the line
Expose the truth to passing time
Negative dried on a hemp clothesline
Images rise like the morning brine
Fixed in the bath washed in the sink
Permanent now no need to blink
Salt on the lens and salt on the film
Old depot keeps the moments still
Click the shutter hold the line
Expose the truth to passing time
Salt on the lens the image stays
Depot keeps the lighted days
