Pitman

Pitman

At eight in the morning
he was usually back
from his night shift down the pit.
But this Tuesday morning
the kids were waiting
and the wife was worrying
that John wasn't back from the pit.

And at twenty past eight
the kids had to go
but she made them stay at home;
until the knock on the door
at a quarter to nine
brought the news she seemed to know.

The policeman was brief and young
and the wife had to understand
that the pit was a dangerous place,
that the roof had just caved in
and that John was in the way.

So the kids didn't go to school
and their mam quite cried a bit.
But it's Jane who remembers it best;
when she opened the oven door
and saw his breakfast waiting
for John to come back from the pit.