Iron Bridge

[Verse 1] Down by the station near the iron bridge Sat a man with tired eyes Holding yesterday’s newspaper Like it still contained some kind of life Factories slept beyond the river Their windows dark as empty churches While giant billboards smiled at strangers Selling dreams nobody purchases And you stood there beside me Rain caught inside your hair You said, “People don’t look into each other anymore… They just stare into machines.” [Chorus] Love never disappeared It just learned to hide Among unpaid workers And mothers working overtime In this paper city That burns so easily at night Somebody’s still trying to love And stay human through the fire [Verse 2] A young boy played an old accordion Outside a boarded grocery store While black cars rolled like silent shadows Past the cracked and broken doors The sky hung low above the avenue Like an old coat soaked in rain And you said the world ain’t dying from hatred As much as from people feeling nothing at all [Chorus] Love never disappeared It just changed its clothes Now it lives among the lonely Feeding birds beside the road In this paper city Where everybody runs somewhere Two strangers still can share One cigarette and a little prayer [Bridge] Maybe history won’t remember us No statues carved in stone But if we held somebody honestly Maybe we were never truly alone [Final Verse] And while the last tram carried midnight Toward the edges of the town You held my hand Like the final good news left in the world