Dorcas

The story of the vengeful spurned (and dead) lover is very common in folklore. This mining story is based on a Gloucestershire coal mining legend (see here) that itself probably originated in the tin mines of Cornwall. Did you know that Gloucestershire had mines? The last full mine closed in 1949 but there was a further attempt to extract coal in the early 60s but it was abandoned. Perhaps Dorcas is still down there waiting to be freed by fracking. 

Dorcas

Dorcas loved a mining lad
he was her heart and soul
His hair was black, his eyes were blue
and he dug the black, black coal

She watched for him both day and night
Her heart she could not control
His skin was fair, his body strong
and he dug the black, black coal

One summer's day, her mind made up
she made some sweet fruit roll
Took some for him to eat that day
when he'd hewn the black, black coal

Happy was she as she saw him there
as he, from his work, did stroll
But her heart was by a hammer struck
just like the black, black coal

When she saw him with another girl
their hands entwined and whole
her spirit crushed and darkened,
like the shattered shards of coal

Straight to the mine did Dorcas go
she heard the church bell toll
as she threw herself into the shaft
to be one with the black, black coal

The miner lad would hew no more
for no-one could cajole
him back into that dreadful place
to dig the black, black coal

But other miners down that pit
would swear upon their soul
that they heard Dorcas singing
in the dark of the black, black coal

"Oh where, oh where's my mining lad
I need him to console
my trapped and wounded spirit
locked in the black, black coal"

"I'll forgive him and I'll leave this place
if you bring him to this hole
and I'll take him to eternal rest
away from the black, black coal"

But nothing would persuade that boy
to be a human mole
to lose his life to the angry ghost
who haunts the black, black coal

Tim Fellows 2017