Apollo on the Docks

O fleet-running river, you're chasing the sea

Apollo is racing to meet thee

Pour the sun down to old Silver Town

And load the poor banks of the Lea

Immortals are coming to factory and slum

Where all the old dockers lie sleeping

Olympus is silent for Zeus has come down

To sprinkle gold rain in the East End of town

And load the poor banks of the Lea

O fleet-running river, you're chasing the sea

Apollo is racing to meet thee

Pour the sun down to old Silver Town

And load the poor banks of the Lea

Well in comes Poseidon, that bold stevedore

He's riding the tide to his glory

Billingsgate fishes swim under his sails

Dropping bright dollars like silvery scales

To line the poor banks of the Lea

O fleet-running river, you're chasing the sea

Apollo is racing to meet thee

Pour the sun down to old Silver Town

And load the poor banks of the Lea

Now swift Atalanta is leading the race

She's braced for the breezes of England

In come her sisters, the wind in their hair

The daughters of Asia and Africa

To heap the poor banks of the Lea

O fleet-running river, you're chasing the sea

Apollo is racing to meet thee

Pour the sun down to old Silver Town

And load the poor banks of the Lea

Then in comes Achilles, he's stronger than steel

But weak for the prize he is seeking

Poverty's spectre with gold in his eyes

Austerity, slavery, sacrifice

To stalk the poor banks of the Lea

O fleet-running river, you're chasing the sea

Apollo is racing to meet thee

Pour the sun down to old Silver Town

And load the poor banks of the Lea