The Ballad of '33. (1933)
"World trade is still declining .... If the World Economic Conference can find no way of reversingthe process we must despair of human intelligence"--(Dr. Mauldon, University of Melbourne.) The Great Ones at the table sit
And sore is their despond ;
Oh, who will free the fettered ships
At anchor here and yond ?" And some they pray their gods of gold,
And some the silver fine,
But aye, the burden of their prayer
Is "God save me and mine." So day on day and night on night
They sit them in their chairs,
Till all their hearts to stone are turned,
And white are all their hairs. Their lands increase, it grows and grows,
Their barns are bursting, fair ;
And all the while they wring their hands
So deep in their despair. Ten thousand thousand idle men,
Full three times that or more,
And wives and weans all hunger-spent,
Are clamoring at the door. "Come out, come out ye hoary ones,
And tell us what's to do;
Or forth shall go the fiery cross,
Then woe betiden you." "Appears a stranger in the midst.
Upstanding on the floor,
And none there was as who saw him come
By window or by door. Oh, gentle, gentle is his face,
But fire is in his eye;
And scars upon his shining brow
Show red for all to see. "Ye men with worldly knowledge fraught,
Attend if ye have ears,
And list the truth that I have told,
For twice a thousand years." "If ye would loose your anchored ships,
If ye would learn to live,
Nor good nor gear can ye receive
Until ye freely, give." Before they can him answer make
He's gone from out their sight.
And in the place where he had stood
There burns a living light. Melbourne. W. A. Tainah. Notes
From the Melbourne Newspaper the Age 22 July 1933 p. 6.
Following Sandra Nixon's advice I have changed the original line in verse 5 from "... wives are weans all hunger-spent" as 'and' makes more sense than the published 'are'. (also the "Age" was renowned for its spelling errors and typos). A good number of Australian songs and poems published in newspapers during the Great Depression of the 1930s show similar sentiments to the one above.Top