the arrival of the iron man
they’ve brought in an iron man
that’s what dad heard the old men say
when he was a child
taking the bread and dripping down
to his grandpa in the tin works
it took two men to throw the tin sheet
over the rollers and the hammers
but now the rat science had sneaked in
and bitten off one of the men at the
knees that poked through the dungarees
and brought those knees to unexpected prayers
and angry tears that would never roll further
than the dust
no further than over the doorstep
no further than a slump into the fireside chair
the shift hooters laughing from the vault doors
of the iron master's ruddy cheeks brandied
and bred in the west side’s sweet sea air
fed by the sweat in the smoking man hours
whose only collegiate clubs were the pub
the pigeons and lurchers and back gate
philosophies of the futility of hope
the iron will being annealed in those very tears
quenched in the damp graveside nodding at
another life run its short span
buried in the drab sarcophagus of the village
pinnies and scarves and shinning doorsteps
of pride and injustice polished to a sheen that
history would reflect down the ages of oppression
and pride at what muscles and mind can sustain
through human resolve and the restitution of time
a memorial
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