Cast Aside

narrative verse

 

 

Cast aside

 

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

 

Reviews

[Mr. Misanthrope]

Another great poem that seeped out of your soul. Very deep, very real.
The story latches onto the reader and doesn't let go until they've finished.

Great job!

Luke

[Adrian K. Smith]

This is a haunting work, in the way that it describes the ghosts of themselves that the men have become because of the change. In going through to try to spare the wives the loss of their husbands, they have cost those very same wives the loss of their husbands. Instead of them being lost to a sudden pain, and being able to remember them fondly - it is a slow, drawn out and bitter process where soon even the happy memories will be destroyed. It is a painful realization, and this is not the only situation where we have tried to fix something only to make it worse; some little group getting together and believing they know what is best for everybody. Yes, it was a powerful statement and the physical aspects of the writing itself were well done. Thank you for sharing this with us...

[Kaye]

That was a really cool poem! For the first part I thought it was going in one direction and then suddenly it went another way and it was incredible.
Fabulous ending to top it all off. ^^