MM's Lament
MM's Lament
MM's Lament
Now those of us from time to time have gazed upon the seaAnd watched the war ships pulling out to keep this country free
And most of us have read a book or heard a trusty tale
About the men who sail these ships through lightning, wind, and hail
But there is a place within each ship where stories never reach
And there is a special breed of man that legends never teach!
It's down below the water line, it takes a living toll
A hot metal living hell the sailors call the hole
Where boilers are gods without remorse it's like a living doubt
That any minute one with scorn will escape and crush you out!
Where turbines scream like tortured souls alone and lost in hell
As ordered from above somewhere they answer every bell
And all these men deep down below who make the engines run
Are strangers to the world of light and never see the sun!
They have no time for man or god, no tolerance for fear
Their aspect pays no living thing the tribute of a tear
And all the men down in the hole have learned to hate so well!
And when you speak to them of fear, their laughters heard in hell!
When the ships converge to have a war upon the angry sea
The men down there just grimly smile at what their fate may be
For it makes no difference down below what ever war may bring
For threats of ugly violent death down there is a common thing
They shoot no guns or see no smoke or hear no battle cry
For if they're hit it's well assumed the men below will die
And every day is a war down there when gauges all read red
Twelve hundred pounds of mighty steam will burn you till your dead
But I can sing about this place and try to make you see
The hopeless life of men down there cuz one of theme is me!
And people as a general rule don't hear a dieing soul
Or talk that much about this place the sailors call the hole
But I've been down there for so long that part of me has died
The part that lives is without light to be a lost hope's guide
So when you see a ship pull out to meet a warlike foe
Remember if you can the men who sail the hole!