BIG BELL

What stories you could tell me
if only you could speak
About the heady mining days
When Big Bell reached its peak

The dusty road that led to town
still brings the people in
But now you’re not quite what you were
Your walls are tumbling in

But still you are magnificent
Standing strong and proud
Abandoned to the desert’s whims
Red sunsets for a shroud

If only I could set the clock
back fifty years or more
I’d see you in your glory days
with patrons by the score

And if I listen hard enough
when the sun is sinking low
I just might hear the above the wind
the ghosts of long ago

The miners standing at the bar
The barmaids serving beer
The pub alive with light and sound
might travel to my ear

But no, it’s just a whim of mine
A wish to see you live
A longing for the early days
is all that you can give

And so you sit and slowly fade
with sunset’s dimming light
A relic of a bygone age
A phantom in the night

(c) 2016

Big Bell, Western Australia

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