Pictures From Van Gogh (The Bearers Of Burden) Poem by Raymond Farrell

Morbid figures
plodding across a sordid field
hunched forward in unison
hauling coal like robots
expressionless
stark reality
slag heaps on a scarred landscape
blank-faced women
wholly resigned
to this harsh
quest for survival
everything is black and white
life is centered
in the bowels of the earth
always returning
load after load
day after day
dust unto dust
give us this day
our daily bread
there is no release
forgive us our trespasses
vanity all is vanity
as we forgive those
who trespass against us
man shall not live
by bread alone
slowly light seeps
into dark places
this mortal shall put on immortality
life had endless possibilities
as yet unrealized
this corruptible shall put on incorruptible
death is the only release
wherefore comfort one another
with these words.