Have You Any News of the Iceburg
by Les Barker

On a cold rainy night on a Liverpool quayside 
In the year before the Great War
The crowd was in shock at the loss of Titanic;
So proud had they been the day before.

Relatives gathered for news of their loved ones,
To read through the list of the dead,
When into the throng came a sad-eyed old polar bear
And to the clerk at the counter, he 
said

Have you got any news of the iceberg?
My family were on it, you see;
Have you got any news of the iceberg?
They mean the whole world to me.

My wife and my children were coming from Greenland 
To be by my side in the zoo;
Belinda's my wife, and the eldest's is called Bernard,
And Billy, well he's only two.


I know on the ship there were hundreds of people 
And I know the iceburg's not yours...
The polar bear's eyes held the start of his teardrops 
And he covered his face with his paws.


Have you got any news of the iceberg?
My family were on it, you see
Have you got any news of the iceberg?
They mean the whole world to me.


It's been over a year since I last saw my children.
I left home to build my career;
I've worked very hard; I'm a star in the circus;
It's all been for nothing, I fear.

That's my face on the poster; we're in town this week;
My children were meeting me here.
Everyone watched as he struggled to speak,
As his paw brushed away one more tear.


Have you got any news of the iceberg?
My family were on it, you see;
Have  you got any news of the iceberg?
They mean the whole world to me.

By now all the people had gathered beside him;
His grief was one they could share.
The people around him, in silence and sadness,
Listened to the sad polar bear.

I wanted my children to see me performing
And Belinda, she would have been proud;
At last lost for words, and his tears flowing freely,
The question was asked of the crowd.


Have you got any news of the iceberg?
My family were on it, you see;
Have you got any news of the iceberg?
They mean the whole world to me.