The photograph
Three rows lined
Flat caps
No one smiles
Waist coated children
To the front
Hardened men
Faces blunt.
Year 1902, poverty it thrives
Boddiced women in middle row
Hair tied back dirty faced
Calloused hands in grime laced.
No bosses in the picture
They have left for lunch
In rich mens suits
To their gentlemens clubs.
These workhorses
People long dead and gone
Built up profits
Owners then passed on.
To sons and daughters
Surviving wives
Days long and hard
Shortened lives.