Born in poverty, one of many,

Father in the mines;

Strict, rugged and as mean as any, Money lost to drink and fines.

Penniless school room, heartless mother,

Caring beaten out,

Father’s hand, worn hands, battered other, Monstrous invisible clout.

Soulless shoes, soulless boy, life’s nothing,

Stealing for hunger,

Angry at life, and it’s cursed sharp sting, His bed drips under thunder.

Collected, dragged home; police complain,

Hands in market trays,

Desperately fighting starving pain, Thrashed hard, belted to a haze.

Gathering coal from the rough roadside,

Begging the grocer,

Begging the chip shop, slaving inside, Father; pub’s biggest boaster.

Rejected, unwanted and alone,

Petrified old heart, Never a murmur, never a moan, Sullen and sad from the start.

Growing ahead of his raggy clothes,

School canes; defiance, His crass opinions unwelcome, Dragged to the mines by his nose.

Unemotional, drinks his sorrows,

Hardly pays his way,

Against next week’s wages he borrows, His struggles and toils each day.

His mother does not approve of her,

Girl behind the bar,

His girl, Brazenly loutish fit blur, Glimpses a dream set afar.

Whispering dreams in each other’s arms,

Glimmer of false hope,

His soul opens to her sickly charms, Penniless plans to elope.

Dreams are dashed as her belly is filled,

Moved; a hovel,

Struggling with his poor wage; unskilled, For money he must grovel.

False family support quickly sought,

Parents, Grandparents,

Hand me downs are given but not bought, For the unhappy tenants.

Marriage enforced to prevent bad talk,

Harsh reality,

Cheaply done, village cheers baby’s squawk, Anger burned eternity.