Miner’s Life

Walking through this mining town once prosperous and grand
In tribute to golden years the head-frames there still stand
All of them are tall of stature, all similar of design
Portals to the underworld, where men once stood in line

It was not a life of ease for those who toiled below
For to their tortured bodies, much harm did it bestow
It troubled them in later years with lungs that turned to stone
And bent backs and crippled limbs from mangled broken bone

Each day they would descend much like entering a tomb
Working in an environment where danger ever loomed
Blasting and digging holes in mother earth’s entrails
Breathing in of rock and smoke and air that’s very stale

Their fingers white and numb from the vibrations of the drill
Breaking rock and moving stone with the power of sheer will
Wet and damp and very cold, they worked around the clock
To make investors happy and increase values of the stock

Many times a cave-in would rob a miner of his life
Leaving behind young children and many a grieving wife
But the miners would all join force to dig free the stope
Until the rock was dug away they still hung on to hope

My father was such a man, he worked in many mines
On his face hard life and pain had written many lines
His body hard as steel and his arms were like twin oaks
The earth would seem to tremble each time that he spoke

He made it through a lifetime of working in a hole
Miserable and dirty, it could bend a strong man’s soul
At heart he was a man of love, of kind and gentle measure
In this mind and soul, his memories my greatest treasure

I love and miss you Dad