Black Dust and Smoke

Black Dust and Smoke

***

Bobby worked in the earth
Hands digging the coal
It was the kind of work
That poisons your soul

The company owned him
His money in their bank
His rent in their pockets
His food from their store

Living out here in these hills
generation upon generation
Black dust
black dust and smoke
It's the only way  
To make a living

The mines took his daddy's life
He coughed out his lungs
His brother died.
In the Johnstown flood

At night he's drinking
With the boys Downtown
It's the only time
He feels free

Living out here in these hills
generation upon generation
black dust
Black dust and smoke
In the mines
You're barely living

***

Written by David Penn Trinley Arndt in 1989 in Jacksonville, a dying coal town in Western Pennsylvania.

***

© David Penn Trinley Arndt 2022