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Classic and Contemporary Poetry


FEARFUL COLLIERY EXPLOSION IN SCOTLAND by ANONYMOUS

First Line: A DREADFUL AND HEARTRENDING SIGHT
Last Line: OF DARK ETERNITY
Subject(s): CRIMES & CRIMINALS;DEATH;DISASTERS;SCOTLAND; "DEAD, THE;"

A dreadful and heartrending sight
In Scotland has been seen,
Where far away from friends and light
Poor men destroyed have been,
When working down beneath the ground,
Toiling for their bread,
About two hundred living souls
Were numbered with the dead.

* * *

The men were hard at work we find
In Dixon pit that day,
Gallant hearts, both good and kind,
God help them now, we say
Without a moment's warning then
The fatal firedamp came,
And about two hundred boys and men
Were killed by the deadly flame.

* * *

Hundreds stood around the pit
In solemn silence there,
By the winter's sun each face was lit
But only show'd despair,
Mourning for some missing one
They never more would see,
Until the pathway they have trod
Of dark eternity.



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