The Losing of Liverpool
Wednesday 26th May 1999, Liverpool.
Just joined the Seaway Falcon alongside in Liverpool on the northern side near the entrance to the Harbour. I was struck by the barren empty feel of the place and the general run down appearance. On one side of the basin we were in was a heap of crushed cars being shredded into rusty metal, on the other a rusted dirty and derelict shed. Across on the tidal basin wall along the Mersey river were heaps of scrap metal. The day was overcast and hazy and it had been raining. I later saw more of the docks and there are some very new buildings, but in general the volume of shipping there had been in the past as evident from the number of wharves and slips lining both sides of the river as far as they eye could see simply was not there.
Liverpool Junk
Liverpool scrap
Metal crushed cars
Heaped up on their backs
Potholes and puddles
A rutted wharf
Tis the Liverpool dockside
Old and worn
Decrepit old buildings
Amongst them new
Rusted and dirty
Grime streaked view
Muddy green water
An Irish stew
Tideless and tidal
A hazy view
Tis but a shadow
Of former self
When steam mast and sail
Crowded the shelf
Derricks and gantries
Mid smoke and noise
Moved the world
To England’s shore
Now forlorn and empty
Hardly a ship
Rests on the wharfside
None on the slip
Empty the yards
Silent the cranes
Despairing of food
Gulls cry in vain
Crowds no longer throng
Along her hems
Whistles and hoots
The shouts of men
A piece of loose roofing
Clangs in the wind
An echo of yesterdays
Steel sounding din
Crushed cars and metal
Adorn the pier
Wide empty spaces
The barren rails steer
All the way back
To yesteryear
The shadows of the past
All gone I fear
Liverpool docks
The steam age hope
Memories whisper
She just couldn’t cope
Alone and discarded
Her heyday past
Liverpool harbour
Lost at last