Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, MINER'S SONG, by IRENE ALLEN SIVULA


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

MINER'S SONG, by                    
First Line: I am a driller - a borer for steel
Last Line: But I -- I see more trains, and cannons, see ships riding by.
Subject(s): Mines And Miners


I am a driller -- a borer for steel;
I am a digger -- a miner of ships;
I work in the midst of confusion to make more confusion,
To feed strife-riddled nations their guns and their bullets.
You see tired trains go struggling along,
Chuggin' lazily by, but I --
I see airplanes, stream-lined trains, tractors, ships riding by.

I dump loads of dirt, rusty-red, ocher-yellow, greasy-black,
And pile it up high on Indian-red cars.
I bore deep holes -- I fill them with powder --
I blow the red earth up to meet the gray sky.
And the trucks creep down to be filled with more dirt,
But they're carrying death up to dump from the ramp;
They're loading up progress, and science, and turmoil,
Greed and damnation... red, bloody death!

When I start home to my wife and my children,
I wait at the crossing while trains clatter by,
And you see only dirt pigmenting the landscape,
But I -- I see more trains, and cannons, see ships riding by.





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