Cast Aside Poem by ivor or ivor.e hogg

When deadly gas invisibly
seeps from some hidden cavity
and overcomes hard working men
They will not see their home again.

This was the kind of tragedy
we used to see quite frequently.
But now King Coal no longer reigns
and miners wives don’t fear the pain.

Of losing men folk to the pit
What is the bloody use of it.
Another kind of tragedy
engulfs ex miners family.

They’re facing life upon the dole.
No longer need to win coal
There are no jobs he can obtain for
those to old to start again.

They gave their lives to old King coal
and spent their lives down yon dark hole.
Their wives now feel a different strain
but miner’s wives do not complain

The did not when their thoughts were filled
with fear of husbands being killed.
I think today their greatest fear
Is when their man gets too much beer
.

Because he’s well and truly bored
and spends more than they can afford.
If she complains he blacks her eye
and then the fur and feathers fly.

Recalling how things used to be
I clearly see the irony.
The cure is worse than the disease.
A tragedy which no one sees.

You will not read it in the press
nor see it on the evening news.
The lasting sense of hopelessness
of men who have nothing to lose.

16-Aug-08
http: // blog.my.space.com/poetic piers