Cold Metal Down

We scrape the slag one final time
You count the hours left in line
The iron glow is running low
And we have nowhere else to go

You wipe the soot across your brow
The floor is going quiet now
Thirty years across the heat
Before they lock us in the street

The steam is hissing on the stone
We take the graveyard shift alone

We put the cold metal down
We let the furnaces die
We leave the dust on the town
And watch the chimney dry

You pack the wrench into the crate
No use in cursing at the gate
The big conveyor halts its run
To mark the ending of the sun

I pass your cup of bitter tea
You stand and stare the dark with me
The cooling mold begins to gray
As all the molten runs away

The sirens blew an hour ago
We have no other place to go

We put the cold metal down
We let the furnaces die
We leave the dust on the town
And watch the chimney dry

The locker doors stand open wide
With forty years of sweat inside
We wash our hands in rusted tin
And wonder where we now begin

The shadows stretch along the wall
We hear the final breaker fall
The yard is waiting cold and still
Beneath the outline of the mill

Shut the valve and drop the chain
Let the night take off the strain
No more sparks against the sky
Tell me where we go and why

The steam fades thin across the floor
We turn our backs upon the door

The heavy hum is dying out
No whistle left to scream or shout

We put the cold metal down
We let the furnaces die
We leave the dust on the town
And watch the chimney dry