Toil of an old miner
Deadly Adventures of a Miner
POEM
6/2/20232 min read
A puff of air escaped his half-opened mouth through his soiled teeth
And a silent shriek he let out when he found his vision lost in darkness steep
Slowly he recalled of the inner wall caving in
And helpless cries of his fellow workmen making up all the last heard din
Not a human head or hand in sight
One light tap on the head lit up an unwilling flickering camplight
And all he saw was sandy earth and solid rocks to share his plight
The fear of crawling creatures rang the bells of the danger imminent
For he knew the bite of a scorpion is so very powerful and potent
When he decided to crawl and grind his way out
He tried hard to free up his trapped legs
In one all-out effort he did succeed
And then succumbed to the walls which rested his back
He started crawling with his tool bag on his back
Tried to make his way through those giant boulder rocks
Crawling, creeping, stooping however he could
Round and round he went about
Unexplored nooks and incredible crevices
He searched the cave across it’s breadth and depth
An unwilling maze runner in this glorious dance of life and death
No blue sky, nor a fallen leaf
All he could hear was his inner cries of grief
Then the dreadful dread came
His eyes caught of something slither by
Would it be a viper’s fang which would seal his fate
Or some other mischievous creature of the dark
His breadth went into a rasp
He moved forth taking rapid and hurried gasps
For the rocks so cold and air so thin
His lively life slowly went into an energyless bin
Toil he did on the terrains unknown
His parched lips screamed for water
Death came knocking under the veil of task
But an old miner that he was
No stranger to these weaknesses of lesser men
He came upon a crevice with a gap so wide
May be thought the grass is greener on the other side
With one great hope and a lungful of air he made the destined jump
Up he was in the air, hanging in the empty space where caves don’t bump
A sigh of relief escaped his lips, when he found his feet touched ground
He found his hand wet upon something
And a small hope came rushing by
For where there’s water, there has to be a way
He crawled along this slippery path
Crumbling and holding on to steep edgy rocks
With mere fingernails and inches of the toe
Down, sideways, up he did the math
His eyes caught on to a beam of light
Shooting herself through a small crevice
This infallible guide made all the difference
And he found the source of the mess he was in
A puff of dusty air escaped his lungs
The life within rejoiced from his half-open mouth
The feets and palms had begun to wear out
Knees beginning to crumble
Yet life bloomed as life met life
No more the smell of pungent air
A spring breeze breathed into him
He climbed up and stood over the ground.