A City Forged of Steel
Words by Geoffrey A. Landis, Dawnya N. Thill, Russ Fish, and Julia West © 2008, music by Dawnya N. Thill, Russ Fish, and Julia West

On the far edge of the lunar sphere they built strong domes of steel A great city of bright nickel-iron and platinum ore A city built by immigrants, this city forged from steel A city made of dreams_ from steel forged. They left Earth for Luna, built this city to call home This city_ they call Luna, for their own. The union men in hard hats stamp the steel from the forge Iron men_ pour white-hot metal out by the ton Mass-drivers fling the ingots out; ion freighters bring in ore Electric welding sparks_ bright as sun. And immigrants and union men have made Earth's moon their home They built a lunar city to call their own. In the long dark lunar night-time, ion rockets cross the sky Freighters bringing ore from asteroids_ to Luna Field While in the caverns far below the children learn to fly In the city made of dreams and hot-rolled steel. And families and children built this city to call home They make this lunar city all their own. See the blue, round and sassy Earth from the graveyard by the dome O'er a moonscape gray with lunar hills and rugged piles of slag Reverberating furnaces that once turned ore to steel Now one by one are shutting down their trade. And dissidents and exiles build this city for their own We built this city Luna we call our home. As the age of Earth is end-ing lunar shipyards slack their pace The mills that built the colonies are starting to shut down Though freighters still crawl orbit lanes, leviathans of space And settlers head for Jupiter and beyond. And you and I together built this city that's our own We built this lunar city and called it home. Aging lunar mills are closing now, but the city still remains And the working town is working on, both hard and annealed And planning a new future, built of new and better dreams We're forging plans as bright as white-hot steel. Instrumental (Chorus 2x) We are planning to move outward now, we will build new ships of steel Shining ships built of courage head to the cold and endless dark On fusion flames we'll leave the outer planets far behind Our ships of steel will head out for the stars. And immigrants and dissidents build starships of our own And leave behind this city that is our home. We will launch out from the lunar sphere in new ships forged of steel Farm in soil ground from lunar rock and breathe recycled air New cities, built by dissidents, new cities forged from steel Our homes are made from dreams and iron ore. (Quietly) And all of us together will build starships on our own And bring with us this city that is our home. (Loud) And all of us together will build starships on our own And bring with us this city that is our home.