The Explosion

    Shadows pointed towards the pithead：

    In thesun the slagheap slept.

    Down the lane came men in pitboots

    Coughing oath-edged talk and pipe-smoke

    Shouldering off the freshened silence.

    One chased after rabbits； lost them；

    Came back with a nest of lark's eggs；

    Showed them； lodged them in the grasses.

    SO they passed in beards and moleskins

    Fathers brothers nicknames laughter

    Through the tall gates standing open.

    At noon there came a tremor； cows

    Stopped chewing for a second； sun

    Scarfed as in a heat-haze dimmed.

    The dead go on before us they

    Are sitting in God's house in comfort

    We shall see them face to face——

    plian as lettering in the chapels

    It was said and for a second

    Wives saw men of the explosion

    Larger than in life they managed——

    Gold as on a coin or walking

    Somehow from the sun towards them

    One showing the eggs unbroken.