This Ending

The music springing up was monophonic,
A single tone arising from the mine
Where hundreds languished. We thought they’d be fine,
So nothing much was done. It was ironic,
Some said, while others claimed it was demonic,
But nothing much was done until past nine
The second morning, when there was a sign,
Then silence. So this ending is iconic:

What did you really think would happen then?
We learned three hundred men were trapped inside,
And sent inadequate resources, tried —
Not hard — to beard the lion in its den.
What happened was: a hundred fifty men
Were rescued, and a hundred fifty died.