In the Limestone Dark

"In the Limestone Dark" (2026) Lyrics by J. Widener with AI-assisted music Carthage Missouri, February cold Driver checked in at the gate just after one Red Freightliner hauling frozen product Routine run same as any other run They told him follow all the painted arrows Some tunnels down there don’t go where they should Half a mile of cold storage in the limestone A man can lose his bearings for good Dispatch called the dock around two-thirty Asked if that late truck had finally arrived Dock man checked the bays and paperwork twice Said “No sir, he never came inside” They searched the main routes through the cave till morning Every numbered dock, every service road But somewhere past the maps and maintenance tunnels That Freightliner and driver simply... never showed In the limestone dark Something’s kept and something’s hidden In the limestone dark Roads that aren’t on any map In the limestone dark Fresh tracks leading somewhere no one follows In the limestone dark In the limestone dark Search crews combed the tunnels into morning Biggest search they’d mounted in seventeen years Every loading bay and service passage Nothing but cold limestone and hanging wires Paperwork all showed he’d passed the gatehouse Scale ticket stamped and logged in black and white But no dock check, no outbound signature Just a truck that disappeared one night Somebody found fresh tire marks in limestone dust Wide tractor treads going deeper underground Past a set of heavy government doors Where no dock numbers could be found The seals were dated nineteen-fifty-four Department name worn off and hard to read But somebody had changed the locks there recently And somebody still had keys One guard swore he saw a strange dull light there Not fluorescent, not electric white Said it looked like color underwater Then he quit that very night In the limestone dark Something’s kept and something’s hidden In the limestone dark Roads that aren’t on any map In the limestone dark Fresh tracks leading somewhere no one follows In the limestone dark One truck gone In the limestone dark Now drivers hear the story down in Carthage Usually around the overnight shift Old hands tell the rookies half in laughter Don’t miss your turns and don’t get curious Follow every arrow through the tunnels Don’t go wandering where the markings stop And if you see a pair of flashing hazards Brother... don’t pull over for that truck Some nights when the cave air turns real cold Forklift drivers coming off the docks Swear they’ve seen a red Freightliner idling Way back past the maintenance locks Hazards blinking in the limestone darkness Engine humming somewhere out of sight Like a man still trying to make delivery Still trying to find his way that night They say the caves go farther than the blueprints Old wartime tunnels nobody runs now And maybe there are routes beneath the routes there Places trucks were never meant to go But every few years somebody misses A turn too deep beyond the service signs And every old-timer in Missouri Gets real quiet for a little while In the limestone dark Something’s kept and something’s hidden In the limestone dark Roads that aren’t on any map In the limestone dark Fresh tracks leading somewhere no one follows In the limestone dark Hazards blinking In the limestone dark Still trying to make his load In the limestone dark Still trying to get back home In the limestone dark In the limestone dark Fresh tracks... no driver... Hazard lights in the tunnels... February cold... Still making his rounds... In the limestone dark... In the limestone dark... https://clui.org/ludb/site/carthage-underground