'THE DRAGON'S LAST BREATH'

The 'Dragon's' fury came to Wales
Setting the mountains all ablaze,
Dug deep into the valley's core
Taking advantage of the poor.
Lead and tin miners, they all came
To build a future, to stake a claim,
But dust and death was just the same
More losers for the 'Dragon's' game.

Young boys, young men, men too old
Hand cut that coal, so I've been told
And crawled into the depths of Hell
Breathing its dust and deathly smell.
Our valleys shook beneath the hills
Far deep inside that coal would spill,
It was black as jet, shining and cold
And the 'Barons' turned it into Gold.

Hillsides stripped of trees, stood bare
Dust and smoke fumes choked the air
And furnaces burnt white and glowed
As rivers of black pollution flowed.
The 'Dragon' roared by night and day
Till all the land was painted grey,
Men worked hard, but stayed in debt
Blood and tears mixed in their sweat.

Harsh conditions, men's poor health
Nothing could stop the 'Baron's' wealth,
Countless wagons of coal for sale
Sent to the docks on newly built rail.
Cardiff City, capital of our land
Was built on coal, dug by their hands,
No justice then, not even fairplay
All the land's riches just carried away.

Now the 'Dragon' has lost its' power
Just one deep mine, they call 'The Tower'
Its' final breath, its' final hour
No more this land can 'HE' devour.
So now our land turns back to green
To something like it must have been,
And all those men who fed the 'Beast'
Are old men now, who say the least.

All ashen, silenced and out of breath
They saw the villages of dust and death,
When widows and their children cried
And father's tears, for sons that died.
The scarred valleys and ruined vales
Old grey slag heaps and rusting rails,
Like the old men with stone lungs,
Tired limbs and dried up tongues.

They cry out now, to tell their tales
Of an Industry that came to Wales,
Numbers and names of all the dead
In books to read, but seldom read.
In cemeteries the tombstones stand
Memories shared by all the land,
We try to forget but we can't forget
But now at last, they're out of debt.

While the 'Dragon' roared its firey breath
It fuelled the world, creating its' wealth,
Made men rich and so many men die
Our closing chapter and yet we cry
"It was a way of life"

Brian Wheeler 2002