North Bridge is opening to let the shipping through
progressively for near an hour the city splits in two
Drypool bridge next in the line a very careful ride
down the dredged channel mudflats either side
bridge after bridge rising slowly high into the air
dwarfing the rows of cars patiently queueing there
til lastly down to Myton Bridge the one that swings
slowly majestically aside the last of those openings
before the Humber River that flows fast to the sea
travelling the deep water channels.hugging the lee
then out into the North Sea and onwards they go
tramps and ferries and freighters joining the flow
onwards into Europe with cargoes that flood
the world textiles, machinery finished wood
in the city traffic has begun to get under way
lorries moving westward along the motorway
this city saw its whaling and its fishing fleets
bringing hard earned prosperity into its streets
saw them wither, had to change often to survive
but somehow against the odds my City is alive
the whaling fleets are history, the fishing almost gone
like all commercial ports we adapt and move right on
day after week after month after year on for decades
our city hardened and steeled by the maritime trades
North Bridge is opening to let the shipping through
progressively for near an hour the city splits in two
ruled by the ocean, governed by the tide
peopled by our folk full of Yorkshire Pride
