What's That Wheel For?

"What's that half wheel?"

My daughter asked

"I see them everywhere"

How could she not

know what it is

or the reason they are there?

"What they were for",

I said to her

"When made into a wheel;

Was to wind the miners

down to work

Did they not tell you in school?"

If they just teach

of kings and queens;

of wars and ancient times

What will we know

of pits and coal;

Of working in the mines?

It's up to us

who lived the days

where memories are so clear

To keep alive the history;

don't let it disappear

The half-wheel's there

to remind us all

of the people of our town

They became our heritage

and we must not let them down.

(c) Tim Fellows 2017