Did you see him going it was early this morning

He passed all your houses on his way to the coal

He was tall he was slender and his dark eyes so tender

His occupation was mining west virginia his home

It was just before twelve i was feeding the children

Ben moseley came running to bring us the news

Number eight is all flooded many men are in danger

And we don't know their number but we fear they're all doomed

So i picked up the baby and i left all the others

To comfort each other and to pray for their own

There's tommy fourteen and there's john not much younger

Their own time soon will be coming to go down the black hole

Now if i had the money to do more than just feed them

I'd give them good learning the best could be found

So when they grew up they'd be checkers and weighers

And not spend their life drilling in the dark underground

Now what can i say to his poor little children

And what can i tell his old mother at home

And what can i say to my heart that's clear broken

To my heart that's clear broken if my darling is gone

Say did you see him going it was early this morning

He passed all your houses on his way to the coal

He was tall he was slender and his dark eyes so tender

His occupation was mining west virginia his home

West Virginia Mine Disaster - Jean Ritchie