Mount Kembla

[vic jefferies]

MOUNT KEMBLA

(In August 1902 the Mount Kembla mining disaster claimed more
human lives than any other peacetime disaster in the history of Australia.)

The kitchen hearths are cold tonight,
Grief and tears the evening’s fare;
Full bitter bowls of misery
Desperate wives and orphans share:

There is sadness in the village,
There is sobbing everywhere,
Every cottage now is touched
With grim sorrow and despair.

The trampled paths that wind along
Mount Kembla’s tortured crest,
Now hear the groans of those who go,
Bearing comrades to their rest.

Cold empty graves in long thin lines
Lay grimly waiting to be filled
With the fathers; brothers; husbands;
Precious sons who have been killed.

The womenfolk will cry tonight;
Exhausted men will drink their rum,
The village will reflect upon
How unjustly death has come.

For sorrow knows no boundaries;
Abides no borderline or fence,
But penetrates the hardest heart
And defeats all brave pretence.

Though with the passing of the days
And in a week, perhaps or two,
The miners will return to work,
As brave miners always do,

For death and harm, they full well know,
Are stern companions of their trade:
They are the debt all miners owe,
The grim price too often paid!

[gooseberry]

A wonderful tribute to a terrible tragedy,I love the rhythm and flow to this piece which carries the reader with effortless ease towards its sorrowful conclusion.Mining is notoriously dangerous as most of us are aware,you have demonstrated that fact here with very well chosen words and a keen eye for detail.Thank you so much for sharing and I look forward to reading more.

[Dew]

Profound!

"penetrates the hardest heart and defeats all brave pretence" was a gem of a line!

Bravo! - dew

[everhopeful]

Although I am unfamiliar with the disaster concerned, I think you have written this in a way which is universal, particularly for mining communities. The ballad style is always a good medium for a narrative piece like this, and you've still managed to pack in a lot of lines which deal with the profoundly tragic sense of loss everyone has to deal with, before returning back to work.
Very well penned.

[vic jefferies]

Thank you gooseberry, Dew and everhopeful. I appreciate your kind comments.

[jwesley]

Awesome piece in remembrance of the tragedy, my friend. You did them and yourself credit. A terrible loss . . . thanks for sharing this.

j.

[vic jefferies]

Thank you jwesley.
"An explosion at 2pm on July 31, 1902, at Mt. Kembla colliery killed 96 men and boys. The sound of the explosion could be heard in Wollongong, some 7 miles away. At the end of the day 33 women were widows and 120 children were fatherless."

[platinummoon]

A wonderful homage/memorial to all miners, past and present. Well deserved spotlight.

[knpoet]

This is a sterling piece of work, Vic, a wonderful tribute to the people of Mount Kembla and to the terrible disaster that befell them. Miners were forced to live with those kind of conditions for far too long. I heard similar tales from my father, who went down the mines in the Welsh Rhondda Valley when he was 14 in the 1930's, and how they lived in constant fear of explosions and cave-ins, how his brothers and he narrowly escaped dying in a similar explosion in those mines - and I just discovered that, as recently as 2010, a family member died in an explosion in a West Virginian coal mine. So this poem really touched me, thank you so much for writing it. Congratulations on winning the Spotlight on this poem, well-deserved indeed!

Kathy

[vic jefferies]

Thank you platinummoon and knpoet. I appreciate your comments.

[ladymaybebaby]

I also have never heard of this as well, but am always intrigued by things that have happened in other countries. This seems to be one of Australia's darkest days. What a tragedy! I personally wish someone would come up with a better way to go about mining as it is so dangerous and takes to many lives each year. You have not only written a beautiful and moving piece of work, you have also taught me something as well. I love when poetry has that effect on me! Congratulations on the spotlight of the week, very much deserved!

-LMB
xoxo

[inflames]

Wow. This is fantastic. A very moving piece. I love the final stanza and how it 'settles'. Awesome work! Congrats on your well deserve spotlight. :)

[allmirth]

Wonderful narrative poem, a moving tribute. Congratulations on a well deserved Spotlight.

Thanks so much for sharing.
Mirthy

[dornicks]

A vivid account of a terrible tragedy in lines that flowed into each other. Thank you for sharing this and congratulations on the Spotlight,

dornicks

[maggiebar3]

Though I'm an Aussie too, I didn't know this piece of our history. Pt Kembla has always been a well known area though, and now I know why. Thank you for sharing this piece of Aussie history, it was beautifully descriptive and captivating.
Congratulations on the spotlight, it shines.

[Jovel320]

Congratulations on bringing out the cruelty of what workers endure to provide us with the means of our way of life. Also on your Spotlight showing. A sad tale but told with respect and reverence.
Jovel

[dwells]

Terrific tribute and the loss and misery were palpable. Some go down to sea in ships, others to the bowels of the earth, cheers!

[everhopeful]

Just to repeat myself slightly, I think the craft in this was making a specific event universal; I'm sure many of us who are familiar with tragedy in mining communities will understand how an event like this can absolutely tear through places which are inhabited with mining families alone.
The devestation is palpable.
Congratulations on the spotlight.

[musie]

Of course 1902 I would not remember but you have brought this particular mining accident to the fore with a great deal of palpable emotion and powerful impact with both the imagery and humanity of this kind of disaster....I thought I had read and commented on this before, but apparently not. There is no doubt as to why it is most deserving of the Spotlight....Congratulation's! Musie

[vic jefferies]

Gee Whiz! I haven't been here for a while and am amazed at all of the kind praise my poem has received.
Thank you all very, very much. You have made me very proud indeed!