Saturday, August 06, 2011

RESTORATION

I often walk along our Rhymney River through the now meadowed pathways where the railway sidings of Brittania Colliery used to be. The pit has gone, along with all physical evidence of its imposing and vital presence to the community which is now a different place to that which I grew up in ... but those of us who lived within its shadow cannot help but remember and wonder at the things that have been won and lost with its demise ...  this is one of my recent attempts to reflect on the changes


Black blood flowed 
down wounded valleys 
mixed with the rush of 
the iron-red streams
pumped from the heart 
of the virgin strata 
as men scratched low 
with their flesh and bone
for the loan of a loaf
a roof and a home.

Black scars marred 
the mountain moorland
shaped the run 
of the sun in the cwm
time clutched hard
to the wheel that winding
marked the birth and 
the death of the day
while doorsteps waited 
for their men to pay. 

Black shadows 
now a fading memory 
of washed out riches 
and wasted hills
as sunshine springs 
down natured pathways
new journeys weave
round the ancient track
for a rainbow promise 
and a long look back.

(c) 2009 Graham Oakes

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