Coal Miners

Out of the bowels of the earth they come,

Blackened and smoky and grim,

Climbing the slope, for the shift is done;

They stand erect on the rim.

Strong and husky their muscles show

Under the coating of black

And they stretch their arms and blink in the sun

And wonder if tallies are slack.

With lights that glitter on shabby caps

They go their way without talk;

Their heavy pit-boots caked with clay

Give thundering sound to their walk.

They walk, and think as they thud along

Of days that are turned into night

These men that slave in endless gloom

To give us light.

This poem is often attributed to E. Pauline Johnson (1861-1913.)  Born to a Mohawk father and an English immigrant mother, her Mohawk name Tekahionwake means "double life." Her poetry which celebrated First Nations heritage was well known in Canada and the UK in the late 1800s. Her most well known poem is "The Song My Paddle Sings" (1912) 

This poem may also have been written by a different Canadian poet, though some think the subject of underground coal mining is more suggestive of a Welsh poet.

photo from npr.org