I was wandering down the old pit road

Where many a ghostly tale was told

When I came across a ragged boy

His coal-black face contained no joy

In his hand, swung a Davy lamp 

He said it was in case of firedamp 

"A'v lost me way to the pit," he said

"If we've got ne money we cannot buy bread!"

I said, the pit shut long ago 

And then I noticed down below

His fe...

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What is the price of coal?

The web has sites that quote 

a market rate, but if you scroll

all through the list you won’t

see figures with the least, remote

affinity to price of coal.

What is the price of coal?

A mine roof caving in?

The dread Black Lung Disease that stole

the lives of countless men?

The destitution of their kin?

Is that the price of coal?

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The Making Of A Worker.

The lorry tips its rubble

On the road outside our house,

the privet hedge engulfed

in a primordial cloud of dust,

it drives away in chugging glee

having spilled its heavy load

and we stand and watch it go

as the carbon mountain settles.

The sergeant-major father

barks his orders at the troops

and our little hands clasp tight

the...

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King 1 - Queen 2

Wath - Queen of Villages reigned

in her flower garden

her turnip grubbing fields

her pig pens and her byres

subjects tugging forelocks

native speech a country slide

years before the pits

-

When Wigan coalpits died

the King - black in workings underground

emerged in Wath to drag her subjects down

drawing men across the border

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