Nancy Kerr 2023
“A reflection on the demise of the British steel industry, written after standing in an old Sheffield steel forge, now an industrial heritage museum and reminiscent of the bones of a great whale.”
Melrose Quartet: https://melrosequartet.bandcamp.com/track/rise-no-more
https://melrosequartet.bandcamp.com/track/rise-no-more
What mired Jonah’s creature To see her rise no more? What fate conspired to breach her One hundred miles from shore? For our children stand in silence And view her bones in awe This heart unreal, these ribs of steel Shall sleep and rise no more Chorus: Rise no more oh rise no more We shall not meet my friend on Canaan’s shore Where heav’nly arcs our souls restore So sleep and rise no more Like a drunken man still drowning Work’s thirst long gone before The veins within her pounding Not blood but molten ore For she drew no dragon’s bonus To burn all England’s poor All those who bleed this earth for greed Go sleep and rise no more The legend of her shining Dark carols only sing Of casting ore and grinding The echoes only ring Bright tears upon us raining From steelos gone before For all that streamed is nought but dream So sleep and rise no more