A poem inspired by the Floating Harbour and Bristol's history of flooding.
‘Underfall & Overflow’
We came to build
A city on the water
Our ancestors, forefathers
Mothers, sons and daughters
And the city grew
The flood plains drained
Brick by brick
The land reclaimed.
The channels cleared
With dynamite
The dull grey mud
Exploding bright.
With Iron and steel
Muscle and bone
We tamed the waters
We built a home
Come the full moon
And the high spring tide
Let us gather
Where worlds collide
And watch the waters
Swirl below
The Underfall
And the Overflow…
By Brigstowe’s bridge
Where Cabot sailed
To the Windwood Isles (westward ho)
Through the oceans gale
From our port city
We traded our greed -
With tobacco, sugar,
and slavery…
We built our bridges
High and wide
Our funnelled steamships,
Beat the tides.
Brunels railways ran
North to South
From the cotton mills
To the Avon mouth
Come the full moon
And the high Spring tide
Let us gather
Where worlds collide
And watch the waters
Swirl below
The Underfall
And the Overflow…
1000 men changed
The rivers course
Steel sluices hold
The waters force
The lock gates creak
On the Harbourside
Holding back
The rising tide
Along the Cut
Runs the tidal flow
Where we tamed
The undertow
With metal, steel,
With flesh and blood
We hold back the winter floods
(But) Come the full moon
Come the full moon
And the high Spring tide
Let us gather
Where worlds collide
And watch the waters
Swirl below
The Underfall
And the Overflow…
Come the full moon
And the high Spring tide
Let us gather
Where worlds collide
And watch the waters
Swirl below
The Underfall
And the Overflow…