'High Windows' is on my bedside table but thanks very much for the reminder and reference.

Jez Lowe 'Last of the Widows'

The last of the widows of the Duck Bills Seam
Is lying tonight with her young man again.
They're clinging fast together, soothing sighs and pain,
And coaxing back the love their loss survived.

The last of the widows of the Duck Bills flare,
Is brushing black dust from his strong brown hair.
He's stretched on her bosom with his love laid bare,
And making up for time fate stole away.

Parting words were never spoken, last kisses never broken.
She never even watched him walk away
But the last of the widows of the Duck Bills seam
Reached out and took his hand again today.

The last of the widows of the Duck Bills fire
Stood bleak and bewildered as the count climbed higher,
Then wept for the world across a newsroom wire,
When she heard his name called out across the crowd.

And when the world had turned to leave, eighty women turned to grieve,
And cursed their compensation through their tears,
But the last of the widows of the Duck Bills seam
Can close her eyes and wipe away the years.

The last of the widows of the Duck Bills flame
Is free of the lonely nights of bitterness and blame,
And there's some who'll remember when they speak her name,
The reason why she lived so long alone.

And in the fields above the dangers of Gresford, Trimdon Grange,
Haswell, Hartley Beam and Markham Main,
The last of the widows of the Duck Bills seam
Is walking with her miner lad again.