Ghost in the Mill

Ghost in the Mill

This tale gets told time and time again
As old and as new as original sin
Begins with a promise that cannot be sustained
And dies in the rust of abandon

The story goes there's a ghost in the mill
After sixty odd years he's in there still
If you look close enough just might catch a glimpse
In the old shattered glass of a window

This town took a turn when the factory fell
The old men among us remember it well
Don't you close it all down without payin' your bill
Cries the ghost, the ghost in the mill

Some say his old heart is black as coal
The fading last light of a forgotten soul
He wanders alone on the old factory floor
Where nobody works anymore

This town took a turn when the factory fell
The old men among us remember it well
Don't you close it all down without payin' your bill
Cries the ghost, the ghost in the mill

Now the wind whistles through that cavernous hall
with a whispering moan of relentless fall
where once there was light and unbridled belief
Is now but a shade of America

And what's to be done with that old iron beast
As is fades in the west with no hope from the east
What's a young man to do with his industry now
When there is no place to shape his conviction

Will we clean it all up or tear it all down
Stoke the fires again or burn it down to the ground
Will we learn from the past or suffer the fate
Of the ghost, the ghost in the mill