Descending

adapted from Chilean miner wants his page of history back http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/chilean-miner-wants-his-page-of-history-back-2283892.html

Spotlights are off now

Reporters long gone, in search of the next story

Chilean flags no longer flutter at the mines

Thirty-three men

Emerged from the earth’s tomb

After two months of digging

(We lived in darkness

Prayed in one corner,

Shat in another,

Divided food for thirty-three mouths

Before anyone ate)

When we emerged,

Men from the underworld,

Chile seemed bathed in gold

They promised book deals,

Voyages, health, rest

We have seen the world

But the president silently stopped

Paying our medical bills

Soon we will put on our hats and boots,

To descend again into the darkness.