You watch the tide mark pier wood grain
Rain writes its script on window pane
Meter stopped but clock still turns
Library breathes while harbor burns
Deck boards groan with rope and chain
Catalog cards hold seasonal rain
You wait for ships that never come
Silence keeps its steady drum
Slow tow through midnight ink
Two quiet worlds too deep to think
Tugboat leans on archive wall
No fare to call no meter stall
Fog horns sound like overdue fines
Dewey decimals in brine lines
Your spotlight sweeps the reading room
Wakes the sleep from paper tomb
Slow tow through midnight ink
Two quiet worlds too deep to think
Tugboat leans on archive wall
No fare to call no meter stall
Steam rises from thermos cup
Chart plots where the shelvers sup
Proverb says the longest haul
Needs no engine needs no call
Pizzicato strings pluck shelf numbers
Bow waves kiss the pine lumber
You chart a course through card catalog
No passenger no destination flag
Dawn paints gray on steel and spine
Two keepers share a quiet line
Logbook entry brief and true
Harbor holds what libraries do
Slow tow through midnight ink
Two quiet worlds too deep to think
Tugboat leans on archive wall
No fare to call no meter stall
Slow tow through midnight ink
Two quiet worlds too deep to think
Tugboat leans on archive wall
No fare to call no meter stall
Slow tow through midnight ink
Slow tow through midnight ink
Engine rests on glassy wake
Pages turn for harbor's sake
