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. Revised 2022.
***
© David Arndt 2022
***
Artwork by Cordia Murphy - Coal Mine in Pennsylvania
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