The Dark, Satanic MillA Poem by David Lewis PagetI
lived next door to a factory That
was old when Victoria died, It
used to be called a spinning mill But
the place is a wreck inside, As
lads we’d clamber on rainy nights Through
windows with shattered panes, Play
hide and seek through the old machines Run
up and back through the lanes. The
rain got in and would flood the floor, The
rust was a half inch thick, The
leather belts from the driving shaft Hung
down in streaks and strips, A
deathly silence echoed there Where
steam once puffed and groaned, Had
worked its mothers and children there From
their damp, and terraced homes. We
couldn’t imagine the noise in there From
the flying shuttles and looms, The
old machines were all rusted in Like
dinosaurs in their tombs, We’d
pull on belts from the driving shaft And
hear them creak and howl, And
turn the mule in its rusty frame But
the dust on the mule was foul. Toby
Garrett and Jill and Jack Would
follow me into the mill, We’d
chase each other around the back And
then we’d be kissing Jill, She’d
shriek and scream and she’d run away And
laugh when we had her trapped, Then
sweet surrender her gentle lips To
Toby Garret and Jack. And
then on a cold and frosty day When
the chill crept into our bones, Jack
said, ‘let’s have a fire today, It’s
just us, here on our own. He loaded coal and he loaded coke In
through the furnace door, He
loaded kindle to start it off And
laughed as the furnace roared. We
crowded round as the heat poured out And
warmed ourselves to the core, But
Toby said, ‘Can you hear that? A
bubbling sound, for sure!’ Then
creaks and groans inside the mill As
it built up a head of steam, The
driving shaft had begun to move And
it started the odd machine. We
looked aghast, and we said to Jack, ‘You
must put the fire out!’ ‘My
Dad will kill me,’ was his reply, And
he took off with a shout. So
Toby Garret and Jill and I Ran
out through the open door, And
ran between the screaming machines But
Jill then fell through the floor. We
heard her scream, it was like a dream There
was something pulling her down, A
pair of rollers, under the floor Were
crushing without a sound, I
saw the blood pour out of her mouth And
her eyes go into her head, She
was flattened out like a skein of yarn Then
she disappeared, she was dead. We
never spoke of that awful day The
furnace fire went out, Nobody
searched that Satanic mill So
Jill’s still there, no doubt. They
tell me I have a month to live So
I thought I’d best confess, You’ll
find her under the spinning floor With
blood on her party dress. David
Lewis Paget © 2013 David Lewis PagetFeatured Review
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