Red Iron, Black Water

[Verse 1]
The Superior Entry lighthouse blinked out its Morse code.
My steel throat dusted red from twenty-six thousand tons of load.
The deckhands chewed tobacco, spitting black into the breeze,
a November heat that felt like a mechanical disease.

[Chorus]
(Second vocalist)
Lake effect coming down,
a different kind of rust.
Just another iron town
turning good steel back to dust.

[Verse 2]
The captain hollered down, "We're loading light, make it a quick one."
The wind-shear off the water felt colder than a gun.
I heard the hatch-dogs lock, a satisfying metal bite,
and watched the Fitz steam out into the failing afternoon light.

[Chorus]
(Second vocalist)
Lake effect coming down,
a different kind of rust.
Just another iron town
turning good steel back to dust.

[Bridge]
Felt the hull shudder with the final amperage surge.
A vibration left behind, a low-grade engine dirge.

[Outro]
The gulls cry over nothing.
Just the echo in the slag.