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Classic and Contemporary Poetry


MINING AND SUNSHINE by AMOS RUSSEL WELLS

First Line: SOME DAY, WHEN THE HOLLOW MINES
Last Line: WILL REBUKE OUR HUMAN GREED.

Some day, when the hollow mines
Yield their final, grudging toll,
When from out those drear confines
Comes the last black lump of coal,
Then, in chill and dark despair
We shall learn to look on high,
To the quarry of the air,
To the coal-fields of the sky!

Where the sun in quietness
Bends his ample daily course,
There descends to cheer and bless
A Niagara of force.
Steadily 'tis pouring down,
An incessant, copious yield,
On the house-tops of the town,
On the reaches of the field.

Here no "strike" and no "combine"
Will disturb the course of trade;
Every man will boldly mine
In the sunfield unafraid.
Every man will take his own,
Fuel to his utmost need,
And the sun upon his throne
Will rebuke our human greed.



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