Dark are the shadows of derelict buildings
Silent the baths where the men used to sing
Overgrown sidings of once-busy railways
Doors leading nowhere shed rust as they swing
High in the valleys the pitgear stands motionless
Lonely the dawn since the death of the mines
Quiet the hills where the singing once echoed
Windblown the waste of a nation's decline
Grey are the skies over rain-spattered cottages
Dark are the mountains that fade into cloud
Deep are the valleys that fall to the riverside
Silent beneath a community's shroud
Lifeless the slagheaps that stand as a monument
Over the mineshafts abandoned to flood
Long are the lists of the names in the churchyards
Reminders of men who won coal with their blood
Grey are the skies over rain-spattered cottages
Dark are the mountains that fade into cloud
Deep are the valleys that fall to the riverside
Silent beneath a community's shroud
Written 1992 March. For those unfamiliar with British industrial history, the valleys referred to are those of the south Wales coalfield. (2003-03-31)