I was listening to one of my favourite songs the other day – ‘You’re the Voice’ by John Farnham. I grew up with that song and it is a song with meaning. It is one of the great Australian songs of my generation (in my humble opinion).
Now, I just happened to listen to it just after the horror that happened in Charlottesville, Virginia, last Saturday. And as I listened I thought that with a little bit more of an addition to the lyrics, that a poem showing my feelings about what could be the outcome might help me to express my frustration about what is happening in this country at the moment.
You’re the Voice
The Book of history
is laid bare and open.
We now have the chance
to turn its fragile pages over.
We can read what we want to read.
We can write what we want to write.
But history’s words will come out.
It’s immutable truth will be heard.
By those who had no ears to hear it
We are all someone’s child, and
How long can we look at each other
Down the barrel of a gun?
How long can we harangue each other
With the trite words of a demagogue?
How long can we have the mistakes of the past
Held up as the Golden Ideal?
The silent majority needs to take a stand
It is time that our views on what is right
And what is wrong are heard.
We are the voice of the unheard masses,
We need to try and understand it, and once we do,
We need to make our message heard and make it clear,
We are no longer going to sit in silence,
We are no longer going to live with fear.
This time, we know we all can stand together
We are many, but we are one.
And from all over this great Earth we come
We share a dream, but we will speak with one voice
With the belief we can make it better
With that voice
We have the power to be powerful
We have the power to be heard
We have the power to come out and vote,
We have the power to tell our elected officials
That we are this country
That they work for us, answer to us.
They are nothing without the citizens of this country
Your vote is the best way to enact change
Your vote is the best way to deal with
Bigotry, hate, sexism, fear, and religious persecution.
Your vote is the one, best way to show
That we will no longer remain silent
We are The Voice
And we will be heard.
Thank you for reading
hæl ábéodan
Hayley