The children were attending, or not, sitting at their desks, or not,

On the terrible day of the spoil slip. They may have been thinking

About Halloween but unlikely given the date 21 October 1966

Americana was still at a distance from these south Wales valleys.

More likely the boys would be planning to collect firewood for Bonfire night.

The unforgettable  truth was that 144 people wouldn’t see another day,

Including 116 children, who may have played upon the colliery spoil tip,

Would certainly know it from their collier fathers who had worked at the pit

And piled up the tip for years. The mining engineers knew that the coal tip,

Above the Welsh village of Aberfan, near Merthyr Tydfil, overlaid a natural spring.

This it was that caused the slippage after the autumn rains had built-up

Water within the tip. This it was that caused the slurry to so suddenly slide

Slap bang into and over the classrooms which were packed full

Of happy children, only seconds before the deluge. The black and white

Images of disaster soon spread, including into my mam’s front room,

I remember, my socialist father said: “kids, paying the price of coal.”