In the north end of town my
own children are grown
But I was raised on the other
In the wee hours of youth
my mother took sick
And I was brought up by my
brother
The iron ore poured as the
years passed the door
The drag lines and shovels,
they was hummin'
'Til one day my brother failed
to come home
The same as my father before
him
With a long winters wait from
the window I watched
My friends, they couldn't
have been kinder
And my school it was cut as
I quit in the spring
To marry John Thomas, a miner
Oh the years passed again
and the giving was good
With a lunch bucket filled
every season
But with three babies born,
the work was cut down
To half a day's shift with
no reason
An' the shaft was soon shut
and my work was cut
And the fire in the air, it
felt frozen
'Til a man come to speak and
he said in one week
That number eleven was closing
They complain in the east they
payin' to high
They say that your ore ain't
worth diggin'
That it's much cheaper down
in the South American towns
Where the miners work almost
for nothin'
So the minin' gates locked
and the red iron rotted
And the room smelled heavy
from drinkin'
When the sad silent song made
the hour twice as long
As I waited for the sun to
go sinking
I lived by the window as he
talked to himself
The silence of tongues, it
was building
'Til one morning's wake, the
bed it was bare
And I's left alone with three
children
The summer is gone, the ground's
turning cold
The stores one by one they
are folding
My children will go as soon
as they grow
For there ain't nothin' here
now to hold them
Marco Giunco |
Work | Basket | Music | Words |