Turkey Coal Mine Explosion - Unforgettable Sacrifice Of Life Poem by Bernedita Rosinha Pinto

In the depth of pain,
beneath those rocks,
they lost their precious lives
like autumn leaves
falling inside a ridge;

it was livelihood that made them go deep
underneath the ground
as coal miners to earn their wages;

and as that explosion came
without any warning
dust and smoke plunged in
and snuffed their lives away
so callously and so unexpectedly;

how cruel could fate be
to host such a tragedy
that forty one of them
lost their lives so suddenly
while eleven survived with fatal injuries;

was it worth this chore so rash and risky
which makes miners go below the earth
and dig for coal and send it up
for use as fuel in generating electricity?

Is this the cost of life
if such is the deal
where for a job of a miner
he sometimes loses his existence
so harshly and punishingly?

Is the guarantee of survival when the risks
are so forbidding and punishing
when there is a tragedy such as an explosion
beneath the rocks in the coal mines?

How many coal miners face such doom
and exit from this world leaving loved ones
to cry and weep thro their entire lifetime?

is it not too deep that a coal miner
has to descend almost 350 meters deep
in the ground to do his work
and risk his life for no great returns
but just some wages?

and how can miners ever anticipate
that an explosion can occur and make the rocks
fall on them when gases and cracks
create such a phantom environment?

do the innocent miners then ever get a choice
to run and escape or do they ever have a chance
to call out urgently for rescue?

as when time rings the final bell
and tells them it is the last hour of life,
will they not begin to panic and cry
yet death displays no salvation or mercy?

it compels the innocent miners to surrender
to their fate and in silence of the darkness to fade
when under the debris of the explosion they slide;

but are there no alternate remedies
that can be discovered
to stop the coal miners from going so deep
in the ground to extract coal
just like drills are used to pull out the oil
from the oceans and deep seas?

why is the age old tradition still prevalent
of exploiting miners to go so many feet underground
thus compelling and tempting them
to work so hard and tough
that though they may feel breathless and restless,
as coal miners they still follow the age old custom
of going down in the coal mines
and putting their lives in jeopardy and risks;

but since the salary they earn is their need
to feed their families and children,
that is what makes the coal miners to rush
for their jobs not expecting or anticipating
that one day they may never return home;

O' those coal miners so full of simplicity
that as their homes will shine with light,
the lamp that burns so bright with love
will never glow again as in the arms of the mines
he has gone to sleep eternally
and only prayers will reveal
how much he is missed each day
by his children, his wife, his mom, his father,
his brothers and sisters,
who will recollect his 'sacrifice of life' for them
and they will silently weep as they sleep
until the end of their own time on this earth.