High summer on the mountains
And on the clover leas,
And on the local sidings,
And on the rhubarb leaves.
Brass bands in all the valleys
Blaring defiant tunes,
Crowds, acclaiming carnival,
Prize pigs and wooded spoons
Dust on shabby hedgerows
Behind the colliery wall,
Dust on rail and girder
And tram and prop and all.
High summer on the slag heaps
And on polluted streams,
And old men in the morning
Telling the town their dreams.