Incident Investigation at Mile 46

[Verse 1] I was the operator in that weather dark and low Rain cut the work lights sideways made the whole span hard to know Bridge steel kept disappearing then it flashed when lightning showed I watched the bucket hover over Mile 46 [Chorus] At Mile 46 every story crossed One said weather, one said hurry, one just counted what was lost Underneath the testimony, the river still running on [Verse 2] I was the engineer and the clock was breathing down They wanted us across the bridge before the line shut south of town I had a revised drawing creased and muddy in my hand The new note said shift the sequence the old note said stand fast [Chorus] At Mile 46 every story crossed One said weather, one said hurry, one just counted what was lost Underneath the testimony, the river still running on [Verse 3] I was the mechanic with my sleeves already stained That machine was old as patience and it hummed a nervous strain It cooled right down between the tests then jumped again in the rain An intermittent fault will haunt you because it never stays the same [Chorus] At Mile 46 every story crossed One said weather, one said hurry, one just counted what was lost Underneath the testimony, the river still running on [Verse 4] I was the Observer at the permit review I saw the page go back and forth like folks do when they’re through I had one question on my tongue and I let it stay unspun The bridge looked calm from farther back so I said, let it run [Chorus] At Mile 46 every story crossed One said weather, one said hurry, one just counted what was lost Underneath the testimony, the river still running on [Verse 5] I was the radio dispatcher caught in clipped-up static speech One broken call came ragged in then died before it reached The right ear, the right trailer the right man in the right place I wrote the time, I wrote the fragment and the silence after that [Bridge] Mud on a folded drawing rain crossing work lights Bridge steel black as wet bark river taking the night No single hand held all of it no single hand let go Just pieces in the weather and the weather in the road [Final Chorus] At Mile 46 every story crossed One said weather, one said hurry, one just counted what was lost Underneath the testimony, the river still running on At Mile 46 we saw the tangle, not the cost of just one Weather met the schedule and the old fault met the run Every choice kept moving every warning came too late Each one held a part of it and none of it was fake Underneath the testimony, the river still running on [Outro] Rain on the bridge steel mud on the folded line Clipped radio static fading river keeping time