Children's Jobs

Deep in the earth’s bowels
We crawl through tight tunnels
Where it’s darker than night
But for glimmer of light
From small stub of tallow,
A feeble yellow glow.
Above our heads the rock
It often creaks and cracks.

We each have our own jobs.
Mine is collecting cobs.
Others sort slate and slack
From the hewn rock-face black.
Some haul full carts of coal        
Up track to exit hole. 
Crawling through tight tunnels,
Deep in the earth’s bowels.
Copyright © | Year Posted 2023

Poem

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Goldsmith Avatar
June 29, 2023 at 9:35 AM
WOW!!! What a powerful write/story. Have a wonderful day...................
Hargreaves Avatar
December 5, 2023 at 7:37 AM
Many thanks Paula. Pauper children were cheap slaves. Brutal Britain in mid-eighteen hundreds. Many mine owners made grand profits and some sat in the House of Lords. Legislation slowly came. All the best. Tony
John Avatar
June 29, 2023 at 2:26 AM
I can imagine. Wow. How long ago was this type of mining, crawling in a night-dark mine? A good read, Tony.
Hargreaves Avatar
June 29, 2023 at 9:15 AM
Thanks Andrew. Many coalmines used pauper children as cheap labour in Britain in the brutal days of industrialisation. My poem relates to Yorkshire mines in the 1800s. It was but slavery. All the best. Tony.
Summers Avatar
June 28, 2023 at 3:49 PM
I liked the poem, really good stuff. I was reminded of “The Golf Links” by Sarah Cleghorn. John
Hargreaves Avatar
June 29, 2023 at 9:01 AM
Many thanks John. Pleased you liked this. Just taken a look at S.Cleghorn's poem. 'The golf links lie so near the mill ...' Best wishes. Tony.
Kendrick Avatar
June 28, 2023 at 11:48 AM
Whoa!! I can't imagine what those days must have been like for those adults and children alike that worked in the coal mines. Thanks for sharing this one with us. I can feel the emotion within the lines. Sara
Hargreaves Avatar
June 28, 2023 at 12:12 PM
Thanks Sara. They were dreadful times when industry and urbanisation took over. Pauper children were but slaves in a system of gross corruption and greed. (See: Patience Kershaw's evidence. Ref. Underground Histories, Yorkshire.) All the best. Tony.
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