Derelict

Danger, do not enter
He takes a picture and clambers past
Rusty staircase holding tight to the hand-rail
Prises ajar the fire escape

Into the gloaming
Rodents scuttle by unseen
Grey concrete corridor with some trepidation
The sound of water draws him deeper inside

Broken and gone
Still holding on
But where's the beauty that he came in here to find?

Bright colours faded
30 years of neglect
Dust motes dancing in the shafts
From high windows
Footfalls echo through the vast empty space

Urban explorer
Camera in hand
Enjoys the melancholy reminiscence
For a place he never knew

Those halcyon days
Left decades behind
Calls from the past echo through the silence
He's not chasing a thrill as much as a feeling

Broken and gone
Still holding on
Somehow more beautiful than when it was alive
Broken and gone
Still holding on
Somehow more beautiful than when it was alive

Broken and gone
Still holding on
Somehow more beautiful than when it was alive
Broken and gone
Still holding on

Child of the 50s
Indoor heated swimming pool
With green plastic foliage hanging from the roof
Square viewing portals
Under the deep end
The view from the windows across the bay
The families came
"our true intent, for your delight"

But now you're broken
Beyond repair
So long abandoned
Must feel like no one cares
You've lost your hope
You've lost your friends

Now echoes of summers and children's squeals
Fill your memories
Haunt your dreams
So passed the years of quiet neglect
Chains and padlocks
Your only friend today

Reborn in the 80s
Into the super-splash fun pool
Curved edges and rapids and water jets
Glass-fibre formations
Of rocks round jacuzzis
Your flume tower could be seen
From five miles away
In your heyday
Those spiralling tubes
Red gold and blue

Seems like you're broken
Beyond repair
So long abandoned
It must feel like no one cares
You've lost your hope
You've lost your friends

After a while the cracks showed through
There's not much more that they could do
They closed your doors for the final time
Chains and padlocks your only friend

Still full, green water
Broken chairs and tables
Stare up from the oily depths
Algae, graffiti
An authentic testimonial to a bygone age

This building's condemned
Because it's an eyesore
But when I looked inside
That's not what I saw
It's beauty overwhelming
Remnant of a grand design
A strange sense of excitement
As I walked inside.

Footfalls drifting
Cracked tiles shifting
Rafters rusting
Foliage dangling
Windows smashed in
Debris settling
Paintwork peeling
Dust motes dancing

Aquatic recreation
A monument in time
A strange sense of enlightenment
As I walked inside.

You can't be broken beyond repair
You can't be broken beyond repair
You can't be broken beyond repair
You can't be broken beyond repair

You can't be broken beyond repair (it's never too late)
You can't be broken beyond repair (why don't you open your eyes)
You can't be broken beyond repair (I know you didn't mean it)
You can't be broken beyond repair (love to everyone in creation)

You can't be broken beyond repair (it's never too late)
You made some bad choices but don't despair
It's never too late to start again (why don't you open your eyes)

When we've been here 10,000 years
Bright shining as the sun
We've no fewer days to turn the page
And be amazed than when we first began