Requiem

[Verse 1]
When the signals were green
Did you sit by the line
And watch for the fire in the sky
Then a scream and a roar
And a shivering ground
And old Oliver Cromwell goes by
Did you fancy your hands at the throttle and brake
With the steam driven into your soul
Or to stand with the driving wheels under your feet
And shovel a mountain of coal

[Verse 2]
Well they’ve silenced the whistle
The coal is all burned
They’ve buried the ashes for good
They’ve torn up the loop
And there’s only a scar
To show where the water crane stood
But the birch and the elder still follow the track
Standing black in the smoke and the rain
And the poor little sheep
With a smoldering back
Runs away at the sound of a train

[Verse 3]
Oh Britannias and Jubilees
Compounds and Crabs
Have been taken away to the sheds
And along with the clipper, the coach, and the cab
They speak of an age that is dead
For some are away to be mounted and stuffed
While others are butchered and sold
And the steam raisers gone for the very last time
And his braziers broken and cold

[Verse 4]
Well I’ve given me kettle
And me old tin can
To a lad for a souvenir
And I’ve traded me shovel
For twenty fags
Or the price of a bottle of beer
For the Scotsman has come to the end of his run
And Mallard is cold as the stone
Their story is over, the giants are dead
And the jackals are picking their bones