there are professions
where workers
work in sunlight
need blessed sunlight
to work in enjoy the light...
there are professions where workers
may work in both light and darkness
starting in early morning darkness
working into the night...
or working in daylight
working into the dusk dark dust
traditional agricultural workers
needed to work in light...
but there were professions
where workers worked in darkness night
ancestors were coal miners...
went to work walked in darkness
worked all day in a night of darkness
walked home work done in darkness
lived a life working in coal darkness...
lived a life working in darkness denied the light
except for wonder of it day off Sunday of light
if not a dark day raining shining not miracle light
coal miners could go months not seeing daylight...
coalminers worked in a season of night
coalminers worked in a season of perpetual night
coalminers worked denied blessing light...
coalminers worked denied blessing cherry light
what is it like working in a season of perpetual night...
what is it like forgetting the look of sunlight...
Terence George Craddock (Afterglows Echoes Of Starlight)
Copyright © Terence George Craddock
Coal was once a vital industry keeping industry steaming, ships sailing and generations of people warm; now instead of pollution waste deforestation coal is a target industry, strangely when coal power stations in Australia are among the cleanest most efficient power sources in the world.
This poem has not been translated into any other language yet.
I would like to translate this poem
My father was a coal miner in France. Your thought-provoking poem stirs up sad and joyful memories for me. Sad...for such a dreadful profession. Joyful...for having had him as my father. THX for the memories, Terence!