They walk to work together,
They walk to work together,
Friends since childhood
Fifteen proud men, still young
Though growing older by the day
He knows they will be friends until they die
Nobody knows when that might be
Anything can happen
Before the light has dawned.
They walk down the steeply cut shaft
Riven through slate and stone
As far as the coalface
Toiling in starless darkness
Until the shift change
They have worked through daylight
From morning until night
And will for three weeks more
Until they swap shifts and then they will sleep
All-day
Or prop up the bar at the Colliery Inn
Drinking warm beer
Putting it on the slate
Until payday.
He takes a short way home
Through the churchyard
Too tired to lift his feet
Stumbling over the dead who came before him
Undressing without switching on the gaslight
Washing with cold water
From the standpipe
In the yard
Starless under thick cloud.
He counts the days until Sunday
When he might just see the sun
Spend some time with the children
Playing football on the green
He loves to see them run
The love of life still in them
A dinner waits in the side oven
Kept warm from the banked fire
Still glowing
He is always amazed at how good, food tastes,
When it has been waiting for so long
Perhaps she really is an angel.
On the mantel are the pictures
Of all the people he knows and loves
Some long gone
The dust of death mouldering their memory
But never will the worms eat them all away
Not until he too is gone
And maybe, not even then
He can feel their gaze
See the smiles on his children’s faces,
He rarely sees them awake on weekdays,
And will kiss their heads before he rests
The smell of medicated shampoo
The soft tickle of silken curls
Brings a tear to his eyes
His wife will turn in her sleep
They will melt into each other
Bodies matched to every curve
Her warmth will be his reward
As he sinks down into the deep of slumber
Beneath the hand-washed sheets,
Growing thin in places,
One more time
Before the cock will crow
And the toil of life will start anew