The Valley of Chimneys

 

A landscape ingrained in black and grey

barges pulling mountains of coal

Furnaces which roar into the night

as colliery lifts plunge the depths

Rows of uniformed dwellings

deprived of light or green

Distant moors and farms

so close but dreams away

Children in clogs on cobbled streets

girls with plaited hair and coloured ribbons

Boys boisterous and carefree

in a Victorian penitentiary confined

Light which filters through clouds of 

coal dust and grime

The public bar beckons the disheartened 

who know of little else than where they stand

Wings that are clipped before they can fly

with eyes fixed on dormant

blackboards and crumbling chalk

Gardens municipal in radiant decay

God never sent us this