Morning light hits peeling pine boards
Quercus shadows stretch long and broad
Lineman climbs in worn canvas coat
Splices copper hums a low note
Roots hold tight in clay beneath tracks
Wires hum deep no turning back
Patience measured in growth rings
Signal steady silence sings
Wire and root in quiet accord
Two keepers watching never bored
Copper sings in morning rain
Taproot drinks the same refrain
Pinus strobus drops its needles down
Insulation cracked on pole twelve now
He wraps tape with surgeon's care
She drinks light and carbon air
Roots hold tight in clay beneath tracks
Wires hum deep no turning back
Dormancy breaks with spring's first call
Current flows through standing tall
Wire and root in quiet accord
Two keepers watching never bored
Copper sings in morning rain
Taproot drinks the same refrain
Fraxinus pennsylvanica leans
Toward the depot's sagging roof beam
He replaces crossarm bolt by bolt
She compartmentalizes jolt
Wire and root in quiet accord
Two keepers watching never bored
Copper sings in morning rain
Taproot drinks the same refrain
Rain falls soft on rusted rail ties
Fungal threads bridge what soil hides
He checks dial tone clear and clean
She moves water unseen green
Wire and root in quiet accord
Two keepers watching never bored
Copper sings in morning rain
Taproot drinks the same refrain
Winter brings dormancy to both kinds
Lineman rests the circuit finds
Buds swell dormant on naked twigs
Signal dreams in copper rigs
Wire and root in quiet accord
Two keepers
