Down In The Darkness

Down in the darkness,
the cage did descend,
Mother earth’s heart,
riches to lend.

Coal and lead and silver,
riches in store,
below the earth crust,
a vast golden floor.

Wrestled with grit,
and tore out with sweat,
names upon names,
that all soon forget.

Those come before us,
all massed in a mob,
taught us to stope,
and taught us to gob.

They taught us to drill,
and learned powder to pack.
Set jack, stull, squareset,
give a wedge a good smack.

Decline and incline,
track drift, raise,
pie cans in hand on graveyard,
swingshift and days

Nothings too good,
nay, nay, never your tongue.
For a young man who goes in,
is never more young.