Ghosts of the steel town

Dedicated to the steelworkers of Rotherham....

The man in the spectacles on a

spiral staircase stands

He watches through the looking glass

As the time slips through his hands

He draws on a cigarette as he thinks about the past

His years in the steelworks

But his youth slipped away so fast

Back then he was a strong young man

But now he’s old and frail

The job has taken its toll on him

At least he lives to tell the tale

They worked so hard for a pittance of pay

Some didn’t win the fight..

The stranger in the photograph

The boy that he used to be

Steel toed boots and eyes so bright

Now he’s going blind and lame

The spirits down the corridor are they real or in his head?

The memories of the past still haunt

Every night when he goes to bed.

Where have all his old friends gone, he sings that sad lament

What became of the steel men who once stood side by side?

The old man in the rocking chair

His memories are growing dim

But he still recalls the picket line

When they tried to take a stand

But the chimneys that once stood so tall

Were all razed to the ground

And the hammers of the steelworks

Now beat to a different drum

The hustle and bustle of a retail park

But the ghosts still hang in the air.