Intro Fog on the gantry, black on the tide Cold in the rivets where the hook-lines ride One horn through the harbor, low and long— Then chain on steel like a struck iron tongue Verse 1 Boot heels ring on the plated quay Salt in the beard and the cuffs gone sleet Gloves stiff dark where the old grease dried Hands know the weight before the load arrives Crane arm swings with a blind man’s grace Slow through the fog like it owns the place We take the line, lean back, breathe once— Then the whole dock answers through the joints of our lungs Chorus Chains in the fog Pull and hold Steel in the jaw Night in the bones Chains in the fog Heave and brace Black water under Iron in place Verse 2 No sky above us, only vapor and glare A lamp smears pale in the hammered air The cargo gives half an inch, then none Like it’s learning our backs one vertebra at a time Some men curse low, some save the breath Some keep count like a ward against death The hook knocks twice on the side-beam flange— And the sound goes out through the dark like a change of weather Chorus 2 Chains in the fog Pull and hold Steel in the jaw Night in the bones Chains in the fog Drag and bind Cold in the throat But the line stays timed Verse 3 Shoulders burn dumb where the straps have bit Knees start talking in a language of grit Still no man lets go first, not here— Not with the dock beating time in the rusted piers The cranes look down like old bent kings Their cables hum through everything And somewhere deep in the engine wall A pulse keeps hitting like it wants us all Chorus Chains in the fog Pull and hold Salt in the blood Shock in the cold Chains in the fog Lock and grind We give the lift And the steel gives time Bridge Breath in the scarf. Hook in the ring. Shoulder to shoulder against the swing. No wide world now— just strain and span, A rung of chain, a wrist, a hand. If the night has a mouth, it’s made of steam. If the dock has a heart, it beats machine. Still under all that iron and drag, A human note keeps cutting back. Solo Final Chorus Chains in the fog Pull and hold Lead with the spine Let the black tide roll Chains in the fog Strike and stay We keep the weight Till it gives our way Chains in the fog Crew and frame Steel all around us— Still we name the strain Outro Fog never lifted. The horn spoke twice. Water stayed black under sodium ice. One last chain-shake, then the night stood still— Only the dock and the iron will.
