How Do You Do Tom Barton?

The street was cold with winter,
The shadows hunched deep and dark,
The world stood silently waiting,
All it needed was the spark,
The fire was bright and hungry,
It exhaled darkness as it grew,
And the fearful cries of the children,
Was the first that anyone knew.

He was walking home when he heard those cries,
Saw the flames and smelled the smoke,
He put his shoulder to the door,
The fire kissed him when it broke,
Inside was as dark as a pit shaft,
The smoke burned inside his throat,
The fire was happy to embrace him,
It clawed and tore at his coat.

Chorus:
And how do you do Tom Barton,
How did it feel to step into those flames,
Now the words are shallow and wind-worn,
And no one remembers your name,
What do you think Tom Barton,
Are our lives mapped out in the stars,
What would you have done if you'd known that,
You had six weeks to live with the scars.

The children cried out from the darkness,
From their room at the back of the house,
Their mother and father tried to reach them,
But the fire drove them both out,
But Tom battled in deeper,
His flesh blistered and torn by the heat,
But he wouldn't accept any failure,
No he would not consider defeat.

He reached the room at the back of the house,
From beyond it now, nobody cried,
So he put his full weight against it,
But it wouldn't let him inside,
And the fire built a wall up against him,
Forcing him back with each breath he'd take,
Until he found himself on the cold street,
Inside he could feel his heart break.

SOLO

Six weeks go by and the scars heal,
In his flesh if not in his heart,
So goes back to work in the darkness,
'til a rock-fall breaks him apart.

So they laid him to rest in the churchyard,
Everyone gave towards the stone,
The mayor came down to the service,
Now he lies there forgotten, unknown.

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