Boots find the grain where termites chew
Spanish moss drapes the transformer gray
Lightning bugs write code you read true
You taste salt air from miles away
[Pre-
Pole creaks under shifting weight
Crossarm groans beneath your feet
Insulator glass catches last gold
Bayou holds its breath quiet and cold
Wire walker porch to pole you go
Cypress knees watch the high wire show
Shrimp boat lights paint the water gold
You carry current in your soul
Wire walker steady slow and whole
Screen door slaps a mosquito rhythm
Boiled peanut brine on calloused thumb
You check the tension feel the system
Thunderhead builds where egrets come
[Pre-
Pole creaks under shifting weight
Crossarm groans beneath your feet
Insulator glass catches last gold
Bayou holds its breath quiet and cold
Wire walker porch to pole you go
Cypress knees watch the high wire show
Shrimp boat lights paint the water gold
You carry current in your soul
Wire walker steady slow and whole
Felt piano hums from the kitchen radio
Pizzicato strings pluck night from air
Modular blips like firefly signals
Wooden percussion taps the porch chair
Storm glass falls the needle drops
Barometer sinks the pressure stops
Oil rig flares bloom on the horizon line
Wire sings your name through the pine
Each step a prayer each breath a sign
You own the dark on this high line
Wire walker porch to pole you go
Cypress knees watch the high wire show
Shrimp boat lights paint the water gold
You carry current in your soul
Wire walker steady slow and whole
Lamp oil waits in the keeper's tin
Wick trimmed for the Fresnel turn
You coil the rope pack the tool kit in
Another night the wire will burn
Wire walker porch to pole you go
Cypress knees watch the high wire show
Shrimp boat lights paint the water gold
You carry current in your soul
Wire walker steady slow and whole
Bayou knows the walker's road
Wire hums through cypress knees
Dusk settles on the porch boards
You walk the line again
