Digging For Coal

Down they went every day,

To the bowels of the earth for meagre pay.

They dug for coal to earn a crust;

They had no choice - it was a must,

For our's was a mining town

And, man and boy, they all went down

In cages, to a world so black,

With pick and shovel, and a lack

Of any decent air to breathe.

For hours on end they'd haul and heave,

In conditions hard to contemplate,

But they did it for it was their fate.

When, at last, they'd done their shift,

They were transported by the lift

Back up to the world so bright,

Shielding their eyes from the fierce daylight,

And coughed up all the cruel pit dust

That had seeped into their very soul -

the men who risked their lives each day,

In the name of coal.

​

By Delia Bennett