Thisisland ismademainlyofcoaland surrounded by fish. Only an organizing genius could produce a shortage of coal and a shortage of fish at the same time.

-Bevan, Aneurin
  Speech at Blackpool. Reported in the Daily Herald, 25 May.

Then said I,Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for mine eyes have seen the King, the L of hosts. Then flew one of the seraphims unto me, having a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with the tongs from off the altar: And he laid it upon my 102 mouth, and said, Lo, this hath touched thy lips; and thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin purged. Also I heard thevoiceoftheLord,saying,Whomshall Isend, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I; send me.

-Bible (Old Testament)
ORDIsaiah 6:5^8.

She taught me what her uncle once taught her: How easily the biggest coal block split If you got the grain and hammer angled right. The sound of that relaxed alluring blow, Its co-opted and obliterated echo, Taught me to hit, taught me to loosen, Taught me between the hammer and the block To face the music. Teach me now to listen, To strike it rich behind the linear black.

-Heaney, SeamusJustin
  The Haw Lantern,'Clearances: In Memoriam M.K.H., 1911^1984'.

'Oh, where are you going to, all you Big Steamers, With England's own coal, up and down the salt seas?' 'We are going to fetch you your bread and your butter, Your beef, pork, and mutton, eggs, apples and cheese.'

-Kipling, (Joseph) Rudyard
  'Big Steamers'.

What thing is love for (well I wot) love is a thing. It is a prick, it is a sting, It is a pretty, pretty thing; It is a fire, it is a coal Whose flame creeps in at every hole.

-Peele, George
c.1591 The Hunting of Cupid.

Strong is the lionölike a coal His eye-ballölike a bastion's mole His chest against the foes: Strong, the gier-eagle on his sail, Strong against tide, th'enormous whale Emerges as he goes.

-Smart, Christopher
  A Song to David, stanza 76.

Nought so of love this looser dame did skill, But as a coal to kindle fleshly flame, Giving the bridle to her wanton will, And treading underfoot her honest name.

-Spenser, Edmund
  Of Malecasta.The Faerie Queen, bk.3, canto1, stanza 50.