The day I learned to hate (Nov 1985)

Submitted by R Totale on May 2, 2020

THE DAY I LEARNED TO HATE

One Wednesday, in 84.
Though I forget the date
I always will remember as
The day I learned to hate

The picture was typically British
The scene was a hot summers day
The sound was of ‘leather on willow’
The laughter of young men at play

But, there was a subtle digression
An atmosphere, not really cricket
The uniformed players were all wearing blue
An armoured blue van was the wicket

Who were they, these strangers
Calmly scoring runs
Why were they at our pit
Hurting our sons?

Did they ever stop to think
Why they all were there
Doing Maggies dirty work
Did they even care?

A Wednesday in 84,
Though I forget the date
I always will remember as,
The day I learned to Hate

November 1985

I’d been thinking about this for a long time. The Wednesday was my signing on day. On my way home, I passed Allerton Bywater pit yard, where the day before there had been a mounted police charge on the picket line.

Comments