DIGGING FOR COAL

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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 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 lives each day,

In the name of coal. 

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Copyright Delia Bennett.