3/11/12

Here I am at Blaenavon Iron Works.  It's been a really interesting introduction to Welsh culture.  COAL.  The origins of industry in Wales.  how fitting too, that my roots belong below the Earth.  As if my idea of European history wasn't completely incorrect, Ken(our resident Welshman...and a lot less harrier than I imagined) informed me that West Virginia/Virginia is of the same geological feature that Wales is.  When the entire continent was once Pangea, Wales was directly related to the same mineral composite of VA/WVA...in short...we are all COAL miners at heart<3

Thinking of you Uncle Charlie!

We travelled 300 feet below ground in the morning at Big Pit, one of the last working coal mines in Wales.  This pit went on 5 miles deep into the Earth.  Women and children also worked at the mines.  Women were in charge of pulling the carts above ground, but children seemed to have the worst of it.  They were taken into the depths early in the morning and left by air vent doors(used to direct the flow of clean air in the mines)...in pitch black.  Seriously the darkest of dark I've been in.  And I thought I lived in dark without light pollution....but these children truly survived in the pitch.

Where would my mind go?  Left in the blackness, with nothing but my own fears, insecurities, unsure if my mom would return for me.

Arriving in Wales, I had a bizarre feeling of dejavu? or was it home?  I couldn't place it until these bits of history came into view.  These mountains are essentially the same I lay my head to rest every night.
This feeling of comfort eases me, a warm tea for my thoughts.


W.3
steel cages pierce the Earth, layers upon sand. to the core.
sinking into the depths
of black gold.

the price of a culture.
bits of time spent in pitch black.
the darkness may take your soul, your mind.

easy, child. the Light will come.

she heaves the heart above ground,
hands on fire, inheritance.

white flash. blinders on.
tomorrow, again.

can we build again?
a Green so lush, it erases the pain.

The two pictures here are in Aberfan.  A tragic coal mining disaster flooded and drowned 144 teachers and students in an unsuspecting school on October 21, 1966.  The grave sites define the town in somber remembrance of children taken too soon.  The burial site brought me to tears. 


Appreciate today for what we have.  Love the ones who share your moments and treasure the ones who have.