Landscaped

Landscaped

Old slag heaps

Cindered walkways

Meandering through

Rolling green valleys

Silver Birch

A common tree

To plant a memory

Alongside ornamental

Winding wheels

There is beauty

In the air

Coal dust settles

Deeper down below

The treeline

Breathing is still

A trial

Living on the breadline

With portable

Oxygen

Too much time spent

Digging in dirt

Breaking fingernails

Along with blood vessel

Road maps

On leathered skin

Tears are not enough

To clear the mist

From rheumy eyes

When youth and daydreams

Were sacrificed

To the coal face

Gardens of Remembrance

Coffee shop plantations

Take their place

Upon the

Colliery graves

Working class dignity

Soon forgot

Old times coal mines

And heroes

Left to rot.