10 April 2010

Please Take a Moment ...

to say a prayer and think a kind thought for twenty-nine men who never made it home from work this week. 

Last week, West Virginians were excited because their team had the chance to become national basketball champions. 

This week, they are mourning, struck dumb, and wondering why it is that once again, a company who shouldn't be allowed to continue operating coal mines is offering no apologies.

Down, down, down into the darkness of the grave
Gently they go, the beautiful, the tender, the kind;
Quietly they go, the intelligent, the witty, the brave.
I know. But I do not approve. And I am not resigned.
 
- Edna St. Vincent Millay

5 comments:

Kathleen Dames said...

Thank you for sharing that poem.

Mr Puffy's Knitting Blog: said...

Such a terrible tragedy. I have a particular heart for miners. I think it comes from the story To Serve Them All My Days about a young man who's father and brothers were killed in the mines. A simply awful job with terrible wages run by unconscionable businesses.

Carrie K said...

Amen.

Anonymous said...

Beautiful. And the greed of the mine owner lays contempt over the grief.

knitseashore said...

This is a terrible tragedy. It seems not too long ago that other men were being pulled out of a mine, alive, while the country held its collective breath. Something needs to change. The families will be in my prayers.

I love the poem you selected in their memory.