The painted letters fading on the brick The weeds are growing tall and growing thick An iron chain across the double door Where our fathers stood and held the floor The street is empty and the wind is cold Selling off the promise that we hold Padlocks on the union hall Silence creeping up the western wall We traded in the chorus for a single voice Lost the leverage when we lost the choice Now there is nothing but the dust to fall On the padlocks on the union hall I close my eyes and hear the gavel pound A hundred brothers standing on this ground We argued and we fought to find a way To make it to another working day But they broke us up and sent us all inside Left the building with no place to hide Padlocks on the union hall Silence creeping up the western wall We traded in the chorus for a single voice Lost the leverage when we lost the choice Now there is nothing but the dust to fall On the padlocks on the union hall Oh Lord, where did the power go It drifted down the river, moving slow Oh Lord, where do we gather now Just solitary workers with a broken plow They took the table and they burned the wood And divided up the neighborhood Padlocks on the union hall Silence creeping up the western wall We traded in the chorus for a single voice Lost the leverage when we lost the choice Now there is nothing but the dust to fall On the padlocks on the union hall Just the dust. On the iron. © 2026 The Shady River Bard. All rights reserved.
