Union Songs
The End Is Near
A poem by Ernest Antony©Ernest Antony 1930
There's a murmur from the millions, in their misery and dearth,
There's an angry voice protesting from the corners of the earth.
Do you hear that voice my masters? Are you deaf and are you blind,
That you do not heed the message that is borne upon the wind.Are you list'ning to murmur that tells the discontent,
'Midst the victims of your avarice, by toil and hunger spent?
And do you disregard it, soothed by your wealth and power,
Do you never fear the seeds of hate shall surely come to flower?Do you hear that voice my masters, in your seeming safe retreat?
And do you hear the tramping of countless thousands' feet?
That presage a day of battle for the slave battalions form.
In that distance-tempered murmur of the slowly gathering storm.Oh! That voice now cries for vengeance, where for justice once it cried:
But hatred took the cry up, when the hope for justice died.
And 'tis ever drawing nearer, that murmur, low, but clear,
And it bears for you the warning that the end is drawing near.
Notes
This poem is in Ernest Antony's book of thirty three poems titled The Hungry Mile and published in Sydney in 1930.
see also
Ernest Antony and the Hungry Mile Launch of Second Edition 2008
The Hungry Mile And 'Maritime Invisibility' by Rowan Cahill and
Ernest Antony: Forgotten Poet by Rowan Cahill
union songs..........a selection by mark gregory