May The Ground Swallow Me Up Poem by Kevin Eaglesfield

Dorothy Mateley was a thief,
A lying, cursing, cheating mare.
Her lack of shame beyond belief.
Unscrupulous, unsound, unfair.

Yet each time caught she vowed she knew
Naught of the deed and called on God
To crack the ground if 'twas not so
And make her sink into the sod.

She held a job atop the mine
With boys and women washing lead,
But soon she felt greed's faithful shine.
Her eyes sought other glints instead.

A boy laid breeches to one side,
And worked in drawers to keep them clean,
Then all looked on as, ' Thief! ', he cried,
'Two pennies gone, has aught been seen? '

Seeing Dorothy's crafty smile,
And thinking her a-dip again,
He said she must have took them while
He worked and asked to search her then.

So hotly she denied the crime,
That those below must hear her screech.
'May God the earth open this time',
'And swallow me', was her beseech.

Then with a soft and rumbling sound,
The floor subsided as she yelled,
And, spinning, thrashing, she sank down,
Complete with work tub she still held.

She came to rest just three yards deep
And begged for help from those who saw,
But dislodged boulders from the steep
Sides fell and watchers heard no more.

Eventually they dug her free
And laid her body on the ground.
Her tub was nowhere they could see,
But on her two pennies were found.

They disregarded hidden gaps
That could collapse into the mine,
And tales were told, when morals lapse,
They'd seen themselves judgement divine.

(Based on a true event entered in Ashover Parish Register, Derbyshire March 1660)