Seen Better Days

We came from the land
From the fields and the hills
To the docks and the shipyards
To the mills and mining towns
Here passed the engines and the men
Who made them
Their stories are played out

We came from the land
To the shores of the seas
To the banks of the rivers
But the last boat has sailed now

Seen much better days
Out there in the fields and the valleys
On the open hills
Seen much better days
Where the rivers meet the seas
Where the brass bands play a final piece

Here we lived and died
At the pitheads and the foundries
Old headings underground
All worked out
Smokestacks on the horizon
Skeletons of steel on the skyline

The power and the glory
Lost along the way
We were the lads
The men of iron
The fires that lit the sky
The places that we made
Our footprints on the land
And here we stand
Out on the edgelands
One last time
Fading with the twilight