SONG FOR ANDY

By Vicki L W Graff

PROMPT — What is Love?

I hear a voice inside me sayin’

That Andy’s never comin’ home

I fold my hands and sit here prayin’

That he’s okay, the voice is wrong

I told her she should never marry

A man in danger all the time

“Go find another Tom or Harry —

Someone who don’t work in the mine.”

Chorus:

But she said, “Mama, I love Andy, an’ Andy, he loves me

I don’t care how late home he comes

Long as when he comes home, he loves the kids an’ me

He can mine that damn uranium.”

He works the mine above Blind River

That flows through north Ontario

That mine’s a goddamn widow-giver

And I’m the one who ought to know

I told her that the metal’s poison

It killed her Daddy, rest his soul

And all that money’s no good reason

To risk his life in that hell hole

Chorus:

But she said, “Mama, I love Andy, an’ Andy, he loves me

I don’t care how late home he comes

Long as when he comes home, he loves the kids an’ me

He can mine that damn uranium.”

I told her that the mine would kill him

There’s two or three ways he might go

I said “I can’t believe you’re willin’

To be another young widow.”

Then she said, “Ma, I know you love me

You’d have me find some other man

But Andy puts no one above me —

I’ll keep him just ‘long as I can.”

Chorus:

And she said, “Mama, I love Andy, an’ Andy, he loves me

I don’t care how late home he comes

Long as when he comes home, he loves the kids an’ me

He can mine that damn uranium.”

I hear a voice inside me sayin’

That Andy’s never comin’ home

And it does no good, all this prayin’

For my dear daughter’s all alone

The mine collapsed, an’ Andy’s dyin’

They say there’s nothin’ they can do

Here in my arms, my daughter’s cryin’

And her old ma is cryin’ too

Chorus:

And she cries, “Mama, I love Andy, an’ Andy, he loves me

I don’t care how late home he comes

Long as when he comes home, he loves the kids an’ me

He can mine that damn uranium —

God, I hate that damn uranium...”

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Vicki L W Graff is a retired communications manager, writer, editor, and creative director with expertise in internal and external communications, publishing, marketing, advertising, public relations, corporate identity, financial and program management, strategic planning, teaching, and training. Her special interest and expertise are in health science, education, and technology. Before retirement, she built a career at the cutting edge of changing communications technologies. Vicki is also a songwriter and poet. The Journal of Expressive Writing published two of her poems, in September 2023 and May 2024. She now writes from Chicago, Illinois.