END OF THE LINE

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A picture can bring back so many memories 

and a picture, can also tell a thousand stories

One such picture that sticks in my mind

Is a photograph of my colleagues going back to the mine.

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It was taken after the 1984 coal miners dispute

of my friends and colleagues, still strong and resolute

Men who stayed loyal to the end

Men, who I am proud to call colleagues and friends

 

Lead back by King Will, with Leighton and Big Bri

Proudly carrying the banner, held up high

Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty

Is the wording on the banner, for all to see

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Marching back to work, after a year of torment

Bullied and brutalised, by an uncaring Government

Underneath the banner, held up high

and every one of the men, their heads held high

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Sadly, so many of this group are no longer here

Like so many comrades in the coal fields everywhere

Men who were willing, to fight for what was right

Not for financial gain, but for their children's birth right

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Gone but not forgotten, not here anymore

Departed this world, and knocked on Heavens door

Gone, but their legacy, is the stories they would tell

Sitting together in Heaven, their souls never to sell

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Sometimes on a clear night, I look up to the stars

and wonder, where these friends are?

And often, with a tear in my eye

I think of my colleagues, most of all my friend Big Bri

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These men, men who were of special breed

Fighting for the right to work, for their families to feed

Fighting for their jobs, and communities to save

men, who took the fight to the grave

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So, if you too have some old photographs

Share them with your friends, smile and laugh

These men, strong, stubborn and resolute

Going back to work, heads held high after the 1984 miners dispute.

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Copyright Ralph Jones