After All This Progress

Where will we be?

After all the tigers have nowhere left to roam or hunt

They then become a menace and can be removed without a trace of guilt

After all the rhinos have stubbornly given up their lovely ivory horns

Oriental men will have to find another way to attain their magical erections

After all the elephants must be bred only in captivity

bull sperm will be harvested mechanically and the musty creatures drugged

After all the relevant decision-making is done by god-fearing neo-cons

we can search with lights in daytime for what they left behind as worthy of conserving

After everyone has all the guns they need but little food and there are no jobs

then it's time to send out our drugged child soldiers to clean up the countryside

After all the pigs and cows and chickens are manufactured like TV sets

At least this absurd and disgusting state has left our sanctimonious morality intact

After all the old growth trees are cut and shipped off overseas

there will be no logging jobs left and no reason for tourists to visit and to spend

After all the mighty tuna have vanished from the bluest ocean depths

we can try to convince ourselves that in god’s plan there is no need to miss them

After all our cows are made safe from natural predators on federal lands

we can clone them even stupider, fatten them faster and sell them cheaper

After all the salmon are raised in filthy pens using colors chosen off of salesman paint chips

they will be better suited for packaging in modern plastics beneath the bright lights

After all the solitary orangutans have no more deep forest refuges

they must adapt to any zoo lives that we might care to give them

After all the rivers are simply grimy, stinking channels for our wastes and toxic runoff

we are surely safe from disruptive floods until the end of our time

After all the wild grizzlies run out of places they can dominate alone

we will save just their genes, for they will not tolerate lives of captivity

After all the ice melts for good and seals always surface in open water

the polar bears can sit wasting away quietly on the shore for a while

After all the trout caught come dumped straight from hatchery trucks

all the remaining so-called anglers get all the adventure that they deserve

After all the jaguars lose their territories to slashing and burning urban refugees

it's simply pointless not to drain and settle the rest of their one-time jungle

After all the mountain valleys are accessible by wheelchairs, ATVs and dirt bikes

we really should bid out themed strip malls at the end of every trail

After all the songbirds have been mysteriously gone for many years

loud mufflers may be a comfort in a new and strange and uncomfortable silence

After all the frogs stop their friendly croaking during summer evenings

we will shortly realize that we never really needed them in any case

After all the coral reefs are bleached, dynamited and poisoned quite long ago

it is simply one less pointless eco-issue over which they will still have to argue

After all the small sanctuaries fill with roads and stores and homes

at least that mindless and frenetic pace of change must finally begin to slow

After all the resources have been plundered, transported and consumed

we will hand carry our water in a wasteland we are too poor to even try and heal

After all the snow that falls is simply lousy with fire retardants and such

we can scold our little children as they try to catch the flakes upon their tongues

After all the forests become simple assets on corporate balance sheets

they will finally begin to pay their way in freedom’s scheme of things

After all the costly giant hardwoods are cut down and hauled away

it then makes a lot of sense to simply slash and burn and grade the rest

After all the land is paved over and plotted out by giant yellow caterpillars

the rains can wash our unchecked, oily residues straight into the streams

After all the quiet, unspoiled places fill with noise and smoke and litter

wackos can then search elsewhere for the peace that once filled the air

         

After all the wildlife is driven off, shot, burnt out or poisoned

the roaches, rats, mosquitoes and flies will remain behind to comfort us

After all the kids have brains full of lead and mercury and lungs full of diesel fumes

Welfare mothers need not worry that the rich have all of the advantages

After all the native plants are extinguished by rapacious invasive weeds

good old weak and thirsty, non-native bluegrass will seem like a damn fine thing

After all the factories are abandoned and their jobs sent overseas

who can still afford the cheaper imports at the new Wal*Mart right next door

After all the engineering is outsourced to geeky losers off in foreign lands

our poor children need not learn their stupid math or junky science anymore

After the only jobs are with the government and poverty is the norm

we will live as those far away had done before our jobs went over there

After all the smarter people simply give up on having children

who will pay for the schools and where will the teachers come from

After all the western highways offer corporate fast food every couple miles

we can marvel in sterile safely at the untamed beauty of the desert skies

After all the rivers carry only chemicals, grease, sewage and fertilizer for years

The times will be less contentious because no one will remember any different

After all the oil is gone and commerce comes grinding to a depressionary halt

it will then be quite pointless and far too late to lay the blame on politicians or Big Oil

After all of Africa casts off its racist, extractive, corrupt and colonial legacies

pigs will flutter off like puffy butterflies upon their newly-sprouted wings

After all our days are squandered and we haven't even had time to read our bills

we will saddle any generations yet to come with a heavy long-term debt from birth