Amanda Blast Furnace Poem by Randy McClave

I look at the blast furnace from afar
As some would gaze upon a shiny star,
And then again I make a steelworker's wish
That workers again would walk through her kish.
Oh how I yearn to again see her mighty flame
And to hear that, "Amanda" name,
And again to see the molten iron as it is poured
Into the torpedo cars for transfer it is stored.
Mightily she once stood as a giant
Unto the world of steel she was compliant,
She produced through the good times and even war
But, now she has lost her thunderous roar.
Because of her there were jobs for the many
Laborers and maintenance and operators to the penny,
They labored and they sweated to keep her glowing
They produced the finest iron and kept her blowing.
I remember watching the coal and scrap into her belly fed
I remember the firebricks and iron of molten red,
Now she is abandoned and standing alone and cold
It is sad to be forgotten, unneeded and old.

Randy L. McClave