A Welsh Coal Mines web page

Hopes For A Days Work In The Mine
 

As I walk out of the house,
I worry about the day's work I have ahead of me.
What will the conditions be like?
Just how much coal will I have to carry?
 

We enter the mine,
The conditions are worse than I expected,
I no longer feel that the air is hard to inhale,
As I am used to it.
 

But I pity the poor lungs of the new miners,
They will probably feel as if they cannot breathe,
I remember that feeling,
It was terrible.
 

Yesterday, the little bird died,
I don't know which type of bird it was,
As I have not had an education,
So my dreams of being a teacher will probably never be fulfilled.
 

I hope today will be better than yesterday,
But who can tell, I do not know,
Oh, how I long to be free!
Instead of wasting away in this dirty old mine.
 

By Lucy Gaskell