The Black Seam

A gothic western ballad about greed, darkness, and the things buried deep beneath the earth.

Image: Andreas Schnabl

I took the shovel from my dad
Same as he took his before
A man don’t ask too many questions
When winter’s at the door

The foreman said there’s gold below
Enough to set us right
So we headed down past timber beams
And out beyond the light

That day, the first man down the shaft
came back without his eyes
Said something in the darkness
Had known him all his life

We should have turned and left that place
The minute Johnson cried
But gold will make a liar out
Of any man alive

The timbers groaned beneath the weight
The walls ran black with sweat
And every man who heard that sound
Wished he could forget

We found a vein of shining gold
Still warm beneath the clay
And every pound we carried out
Made daylight fade to grey

One mule kicked hard against the rope
One tore its teeth apart
But still we drove our picks below
Like fools without a heart

The foreman said the gold could sing
When held up to the flame
But every man who heard that song
Forgot his children’s names

By then the dark had settled deep
In every lung and bone
And some men swore the mountain moved
Beneath us like it groaned

The foreman laughed and drove us on
Said we were close enough
Then split the earth with one last strike
And woke what slept below

The tunnel opened wide as hell
The timbers split apart
And something older than the world
Came beating in the dark

I ran before the lanterns died
Before the screams were done
And when I reached the mouth above
The mountain blocked the sun

They say there’s still gold in that hill
Enough to make men crawl
But I still hear it sing at night
And know it knows us all

Written for Bradley Ramsey’s Day#12 Halls of Pandemonium Writing Challenge.