Hard as Coal

Here lies the rain washed coal
Unearthed by a river of sludge
Its rocky headstone worn away
To expose its unwanted face

Worthless to economy
They hid it, buried it deep
Letting the tired, forgotten mountain
Deal with the pariah’s keep

Now on the grave,
The discarded tread
Deserted by the corporation
Like slate-ridden coal

Worthless to economy,
They hid them, buried them deep
Letting the tired, forgotten mountain
Deal with the pariahs’ keep

Too poor to leave the holler
Too proud to stumble to unemployment
Too engrained in their mountain blood
The strength that makes them Appalachia

Too poor to be wanted
Too solid to be removed
Too embedded in its being
The fact that coal is coal

Worthless to economy,
They hid them, buried them deep
Letting the tired, forgotten mountain
Deal with the pariahs’ keep

But all that is said is

“Pariah sounds like a flower”
“We live, day to day, as we can”
“Coal that sits, untouched like ours
breeds diamonds in ten thousand years.”

And nobody hears

Worthless to the economy,
These gems have been buried deep
Letting the loved, home-making mountain
Deal with the flowers’ keep