The coal lay deep beneath the fields
Of England -lush and green.
They sank a pit then built the town
That set the mining scene.
And from the villages around
Came actors in the play.
The scene was set in Lancashire,
The time, just yesterday. |
| |
They built them lots of houses
For the miners needed rooms.
And set them up like dominoes
Some black as Egypt's tombs.
All ready now to mine the coal,
Each man to play his part.
Then they chose a graveyard
So that the play could start. |
| |
To the rich it was a comedy,
When water from a jug
Poured down the backs of workers,
Washing, on a rug.
But all the water in the world
Could not wash away the hate
Of the miner for the coal mine-
That has just killed off his mate. |
| |
To him life is a tragedy
From the very start.
From a Mother's crying
To the widow's broken heart.
Still the miner plays his role,
His performance always fine.
Until he's taken all the coal
From the dark and dirty mine |
| |
Then all the little houses
In that little mining town,
Like the headgears in the pit yard,
Must all come tumbling down.
The play can't run forever,
With the graveyard nearly full.
So the village is unhappy,
With no other strings to pull. |
| |
Too many of the actors,
Had left the stage -feet first
On their journey to the graveyard,
In the undertaker's hearse.
But the oil has been discovered
And the mine has been shut down.
And the gravestones, with the houses,
Are tumbling with the town. |