Silent I stand and look around

The gentle slopes of green

Deep within my mind I see

Where the coal mine once had been.

 

The years roll back I hear the sound

Of winding engine steam

I see the pulleys turning

On the headgear in my dream.

 

Flat capped men, oil lamps in hand

Ride crouched within the cage

From thirteen to sixty five

Men of every age.

 

There's sons and fathers, granddads too

Like sheep within a fold

They spend their lives in darkness

To dig for coal - black gold.

 

The pit means more to these brave men

Than just a place of strife

This is their very being

And mining is their life.

 

As if they are God's chosen ones

Destined to pick and toil

To turn the wheel of industry

From deep beneath the soil.

 

The times were hard but happy

Their character showed through

The miners one big family

With disagreements few.

 

Accidents were common place

When e'er a miner died

The sorrow spread throughout the town

And everybody cried.

 

Those days are gone and men forget

The sacrifices made

The debts we owe to each of them  

As some their lives they laid.

​

Broken bodies, shattered limbs

Lungs solid with the dust

As if the earth took it's revenge

For digging up it's crust.

 

But as I sit here some might say

`Thank God those days are gone'

I say `God bless the miners'

I'm proud that I was one.

 

Let's not forget them, on these fields

Where children play and laugh

Erect a monument to them

Inscribe an epitaph.

 

`Beneath this ground toiled human worms

Gave all they had to give

To help to make this country great

And improve the way we live'.