I have seen their eyes, the terrible, empty eyes
Of women in a glimmerless dawn, and the hands
Of men who have wrestled through long years with the dark
Underpinning of the mountains, strong hands that fight
In dumb faith that what was once flesh born of their flesh
And is earth of the earth, should rest in the earth of God,
Not that of the devil's making...
The Tip had crouched like a plague-god, with the town,
A victim in reversion, held beneath
A vast, invisible paw... Not a lion to toss
A proud, volcano-mane of destruction, crouched
Like a rat, it waited...
I have seen their eyes, and the empty hands of men,
And they walk like victims of a second Flood
In a world no longer home, where the void of sky
Between tall mountains looms as a cenotaph
For a generation of laughter...
I have seen them
Walking, near-ghosts, wraiths from a half-formed legend
Of this more-than-Hamelin, where, on an autumn Friday,
Between nine and ten of the clock, death raised his flute
And the children followed...
Author notes
For in case you are too young to remember: Aberfan is a village in what used to be the coal-mining area of Wales. Coal waste was dumped to form a Tip (a huge mound) right next to the village school, although the villagers protested that the site was unsafe, as there was an underground stream. (But, of course, the Government-run National Coal Board - far away in London - knew best!!!)...
And on 21 October, 1966, just when morning lessons were beginning, the laws of nature took over (in the relentless way they do!); the Tip suddenly slid down and buried the school... Over 170 children and their teachers died.
This, my response, was written the same day.
A contest entry
- The 60's - Weekend Contest . by sheltered.
679 points, ended February 26, 2007, 8 entries
Honorable mention
• next poem in this contest, remove from contest - Tragedies by Musical Renaissance.
700 points, ended June 15, 2007, 21 entries
• next poem in this contest, remove from contest - Poems of the Sixties- Calling all Hippies.- Pre-writes Allowed. by Mercury Rising.
550 points, ended December 19, 2007, 8 entries
Honorable mention
• next poem in this contest, remove from contest - Natural disasters! by mwilson50.
900 points, ended June 19, 2008, 15 entries
• next poem in this contest, remove from contest - Medieval/Historical related poems by TyrannyForestFairy.
1410 points, ended August 12, 2008, 28 entries
• next poem in this contest, remove from contest - Allpoetry: Write on a natural disaster: Contest #193 (Winkling motivated) by Andantino.
1750 points, ended October 29, 23 entries
Gold trophy winner
• next poem in this contest, remove from contest - prewrites contest!!!!!!!!!!!! enter!!!!! by foreveryourslove.
1120 points, ended November 9, 1070 entries
• next poem in this contest, • Add to finalists list, or remove from contest
Please do not feel obliged to comment - and if you do comment, please understand that it may be some time before I respond.
Comments
1 - 18 of 18
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Horrible ...
but it certainly illuminates the amount of stupidity you often find when the government doles out its rules and regulations, usually with little or no regard for reality.
Congratulations on the Gold, and it is certainly well deserved.
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WOW!
I had never thought of a tragedy of this magnitude in a place that one would least suspect that something like this would occur. Hurricanes, floods, tornados, earthquakes, war but not Wales and not a man-made disaster. I was pleased to be educated by your thoughtful poem and to know that you were right on top of it with a poem, way back then. I was in school myself the day that this happened. joy
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You capture the depth of this tragedy
With the empty eyes, the useless hands of the parents of these children who died. Such powerful words build heart breaking phrases. I so welcome a poem which exhibits such profound skills. Bravo.
This is really a man-made disaster or, if not, Nature has been sorely tempted by man! A pity, but then many natural disasters lack human foresight and do much human and animal damage.
Danni
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You may be interested to know that George Thomas (who later became Lord Tonypandy) was at the time of the Aberfan disaster in charge of the Welsh Office in London. (At that time Wales was ruled entirely from London!). He immediately went to Aberfan and worked through the night and the next day in the team who washed the children's bodies as they were dug out, and laid them out properly on the seats in the chapel (which was being used as the mortuary)- so that when the parents came to identify them, the sight would be less shocking. He had no responsibility whatsoever for the disaster (the fault lay entirely with the National Coal Board's experts) - but he was a Welshman... and so he went where he felt his duty to be... To me, what is so commendable is not so much that he rushed straight there - but that when he arrived he simply went straight to work helping with one of the most distressing jobs of the aftermath...
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That is interesting - and commendable. We need more people like that in public service.
Danni
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October 21, 1966 . . .
that is a powerful date.
a) it's today, and
it's my birthday 
and that was the year my parents were born.
This poem is more than a history lesson; but a vivid trip back in a time machine. You've captured this exceptionally well. Your writing is stellar!
Thank you for sharing,
best wishes.
Zach Estel. -
I so remember this day and what I was doing as I had had a dream the night before about the children, it plagued for weeks.so sad.
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Many still remember!
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A sad story, well told, "a cenotaph for a generation of laughter." It would be one of those events that would move one to poetry.
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Powerful imagery
And to think it was all caused by the shortsighted greed of big business, in this case coal/mining companies. Not all tragedies are natural - some we do to ourselves quite effectively. The emotional devastation comes through very well in this piece. Thanks for entering. -
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I have already replied to this once - but the message did not reach the page. "Big business" and "shortsighted greed" was not involved in this case. The (very left-wing) Attlee government had "nationalized" all UK coal-mines (i.e. taken them into state ownership) in 1947-48, after which all decisions concerning them were made by civil servants who generally knew nothing concerning the conditions on (or under) the ground and were disinclined to listen to those who did!
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A really informative and poignant poem that was written with a lot of feeling and heart. Best of luck in my contest, and thanks for entering this excellent piece.
David
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Yes, indeed, a tragedy. In so many ways. Of course the gov't "knew" what they were doing inspite of the city's protests and so many to have erished due to those souls who were above it all. Wonderfully done.
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Which city are you talking about? Aberfan was (as is) a little village. No cities were involved.
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That is so sad.....and, no, I had no idea about this. Why would anyone be so reackless? They probably weren't meaning to, though. Great write, and yes, it would be considered a tragedy.
~*~RoseDawn~*~
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This is the news story
This is the one I remember best from childhood. John Humphries reporting. I was ten and felt so very shocked. This is the story that defined my childhood because JFK was someone my parents were shocked had died and I didn't really fully understand. But this, this I understood very well indeed. The image of the tip as a beast is a good one. It brooded over them. The villagers' torn hands too is very shocking and evocative to me. No, not just peace and love; well no, not even peace or love really. A bit of a sham, I think. A pity.
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I remember Aberfan well, Vera - all those shaky images on the black and white T.V. In these days of continuous news and seemingly continuous disaster, we have become insensitive to this sort of thing, as the comment from the contest setter ably demonstrates. Thank God for someone who sees the 60's as something more than a decade of love-lorn hippies and weekend free love. Your poem deserves rather more than to be dismissed in this casual way. Still, there will always be those who will bury their heads, ostrich-like in the sands of Time, won't there. As the world burns around us, let's don our tie-dyed tee shirts and board a VW camper van for Woodstock....Peace and Love man; pass me the grass
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I just had to read it over again with the notes you provided in mind and it made so much more sense. A really great write even though it wasn't exactly what I was looking for it wowed me in another way. Great job.
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