Word Gifts
THe Solider
ON STRIKE It was the middle of the strike. We were standing at the braziers every day. The coldest winter everyone had said. We’d stamp our feet and warm our hands, Sing songs, tell stories, anything To keep out the biting cold. Everyday this woman hurried past, Head turned away, ignoring us, On her way to the posh houses on the hill. Stuck up cow! Somebody said As she went walking by. We didn’t care if she heard or not. All we cared about was the cold And getting our pit opened once again. The policemen sent to keep an eye on us
A read about the Civil War That happened in America More than a hundred years ago. I read about a fatal charge Some soldiers made in the snow. I read about the way they died In front of a stone wall. Heaps of them were laid there overnight Wounded and unable to move. No man’s land was a terrible place to be. But one Confederate soldier Took pity on them there. He left his gun behind the wall, Went out between the lines And gave water to the wounded. There was nothing more that he could do. But the firing stopped on both sides Until he’d done his task. The men called him The Angel of the Battlefield.
Mary Hart lives in Doncaster. She has attended several writing groups and workshops in the area. This is her first published poem.
Were eating well and drinking mugs of tea. They laughed at us out in the cold With nothing to sustain us but our jokes. One bitter morning snow began to fall. It fell onto the pit-head and the slag heaps. The ‘stuck up’ woman that we’d shouted at
KINDNESS
Was coming down the road. She brought us roast potatoes And a flask of scalding tea.
Kindness comes in many forms. It doesn’t have to be seen. Think of the kindness of nurse, The kindness of a mother. Think of the kindness of a child, A sister to a brother. Small acts of kindness multiply. It’s best when no money is involved And when the people are unknown: One stranger to another.
It was the best meal of my life.
Ken Brough is a retired miner and lives in Mexborough.
Mike Blake lives in Sprotborough.
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