His dad was a miner and his granddad was tooThere was never much question about what he might doBy the age of thirteen he had laid down his planAnd become a coal miner and a prince among menMy goal as a young lad from a bright early ageWas to follow my hero down in that cageFairy lights and pit ponies were the stuff of my dreamsNever thinking how hard my dad worked at the seaOnly a miner killed under the groundOnly a miner and one more is foundKilled by accident no one can tellYour mining's all over poor miner farewellDad worked like a Trojan his money to saveI'm afraid that he worked himself into his graveAnd my schooling was paid for at the cost of his lungDad was an old man at the age of forty-oneI never will forget how his face lit with prideWhen I got my diploma he was there by my sideAnd I try to remember him as he was thenA rare moment of joy for a prince among menOnly a miner killed under the groundOnly a miner and one more is foundKilled by accident no one can tellYour mining's all over poor miner farewellAn old watch and chain in scribe chain styleNever seen much reward for a life of such toilBut I keep his lamp burning and his old union cardAnd his bones rest here in this sunlit graveyardMy dad was a miner and a prince among menWell loved by his wife and his family and friendsAnd his hardship and toil gave me the one chance I hadAnd generations of slavery died with my dadOnly a miner killed under the groundOnly a miner and one more is foundKilled by accident no one can tellYour mining's all over poor miner farewell© transcript Emily Beynon