You climb the ladder rung by rusted rung
Morning sun burns white on aluminum
Thruster housings cold in desert air
Your fingers trace the scoring there
Under the span the heat won't find you
Steel ribs above like keeps of old
You read the gauges dark behind you
The desert keeps what can't be told
Log book open on the hot cement
Ink bleeds blue where hours went
Pressure nominal on line three
Steady as a lantern's plea
Under the span the heat won't find you
Steel ribs above like keeps of old
You read the gauges dark behind you
The desert keeps what can't be told
Dust devil spins past the concrete foot
You wipe the sweat from off your boot Ignition sequence memorized
No tower talks you through sunrise
Under the span the heat won't find you
Steel ribs above like keeps of old
You read the gauges dark behind you
The desert keeps what can't be told
Radio static cracks the quiet air
No voice answers, no one's there
You toggle switches, flip the guards
Hard desert makes its own rewards
Night comes fast on Arizona stone
You'll burn the kerosene you've known
But morning finds you checking still
Against the span, against your will
Final checklist, thumbs up to the sky
Turbine whine begins to climb
Wheels leave ground on shimmering tide
Lighthouse keeper's desert ride
Under the span the heat won't find you
Steel ribs above like keeps of old
You read the gauges dark behind you
The desert keeps what can't be told
Slide guitar fades with the rotor sound
Keeper's log says: wheels off ground
