Out of the Mine

Back and forth, through the dark, I carry coal, My name is little Mary, six-years-old, From five in the morn to nine in the night, To the mine is my heart and childhood sold. The water is thick and smells something bad, It tugs on my legs and pulls me under, Back and forth, my head spinning from no sleep, But the black whip wakes me up like thunder. So many years of fatigue, sickness, strife, For two shillings a day I sold my life.

I have ten siblings, each of them work too, My daddy drinks and my momma's gone sick, We all live along with more families, The water is dirty and the air, thick. I go to the mine, come home, eat and sleep, In Sunday school, Jesus will come, they say, They teach Lord's Prayer, but I have my own, While I'm carrying my load of coal, I pray I'll look everywhere for You, for a sign Please take me to Heaven, out of the mine.