Old Dogs

Old dogs are always tired
Pups, they're mostly happy
Farm dogs are ever hungry
As if they're seldom fed.

Mountain's Heart

Heart of the mountain
Soul of the hills
Ripped from the deepest places
Sacred, precious... valuable.
The Company doesn't care
About the heart or soul.
Heart of the Mountain
Only the black coal
Bought and sold.
Hauled away in truckloads
Hauled away with no care
Hauling precious souls
Draggin' the dead behind
Long trains to the north.

Heart of the mountains
Hauled away in carloads
Draggin' the dead behind
Burned in the smelters
Furnaces, engines, converters
To give light, steel, transportation
To those who mock
The mountains.

Weep, Weep, heart of the Mountains.

Sunday Dinner

Oilcloth covered table
Red and white checked once.
Now worn pink from
A thousand meals,
Hundreds of plates passed
Scores of fried chicken dinners
With a patchwork of preachers.