“Come and stand,” said the poor man, “in the shadow of Carnegie.
He left the shores of Fife without a penny to his name,
But he ended his days drinking wine with lords and ladies,
And across the wide Atlantic my sons came to do the same.”
And the small boy looked up at the statue on the hill,
At the gaze of the hard hollow eyes,
Hot enough to forge ambition from a poor man's will,
And cold enough to temper it with lies –
Cold as STEEL! – Take the iron in his soul
For STEEL! – Make the iron horses roll
On STEEL far out across the land,
And to show the poor of Scotland how proud they could stand,
How many men's lives did he steal?

“Come and stand,” said the teacher, “in the shadow of Carnegie.
He gave palaces of learning to the sons of the poor,
And even in the churches you can hear the people pray
That when the Lord's gifts are gone, Carnegie's will endure.”
And the small boy asked how a palace could be built
With hardship and poverty for walls,
When the greed of the giver mortars every stone with guilt,
And guilt's the coldest charity of all,
Cold as STEEL! – Take the iron in his soul
For STEEL! – Make the iron horses roll
On STEEL far out across the land,
And to place the seed of learning in a small boy's hand,
How many men's lives did he steal?

“Come and stand,” said the worker, “in the shadow of Carnegie,
In sweat shop and in furnace worse than any tongues can tell.
A pittance of a wage is all he ever paid me,
And I hope he's burning yet in the deepest pit of hell.”
And the small boy asked as he listened to their cry,
How the man could be raised ever higher.
If Carnegie was so bad, why did no lightning come
To cast him down to the fire?
Hot as STEEL! – Take the iron in his soul
For STEEL! – Make the iron horses roll
On STEEL far out across the land,
And to make himself the equal of the great and the grand,
How many men's lives did he steal?

Lay the soul of a poor man on the anvil of ambition.
Watch the hammer blows come down and think before you blame.
Is it any wonder he's halfway to perdition
When the hand of compassion pulls his heart from the flames?
How many broken hearts make a Carnegie Hall?
Better not to reckon, by far,
But beware when you see the likes of Carnegie's fall,
For a giant falls heavy and hard,
Hard as STEEL! – Take the iron in his soul
For STEEL! – Make the iron horses roll
On STEEL far out across the land,
And to make himself a God unto his poor fellow man,
How many lives did he steal?

Brian McNeill