monday is not far off

I go down
into mine and start with my pick
and axe
against
the black wall.
I chip off a days worth
of coal
and wheel it out in a steel
wagon.

my face is charred,
my lungs wheeze.
even the birds are full of soot
above this mountain.
they shake their wings
but are never free from it.

I go to the saloon and get drunk,
then go
home to my wife
and kids.
they don't know me anymore. I don't
know me anymore.

I put the money on the table.
Monday is not
far off.