Wide-mouthed shovels,
Digging, scraping,
At the unyielding coal
Muscles knotted
Under sweat-wet shirts
Capped and kerchiefed,
Knee-tied trousers
Shod boots, slipping, gripping,
Shifting bodies, bent to the task
Filling the half-ton steel bucket
Lift and load,
Lift and load
Lift and load
Shrunken red-eyed, dust-streaked faces
The hacking spit of black phlegm
Nodding quietly,
Proud as the level lowers
Taking them deeper within the hold
Swirling speck-filled clouds, lining lungs
And always the lowering bucket
Lunar-locked, driving the pace.
Dead men digging.