Let Us So Virtuously Abide

and so my dear brothers let us go forth to pollute and to destroy

let us slash and let us burn, let us shop and let us drive giant vehicles all alone

let us consume without care for time everlasting, amen

let us worry not for tomorrow nor for any affairs of the future

yes, my dear brothers let us despoil, let us ruin

let us propagate our own and teach them our ways

and woe unto him who would speak a word to oppose us

verily, my dear brothers, the One True God we have created remains upon our side

let us use him to retain a strict certitude in all of our decisions

go forth my brothers, may you remain ever righteous and angry

and see only what you will in just the way you wish to see it

let us despoil and waste and remain blissfully unaware

let us ignore and rationalize, cast blind eyes and turn deaf ears

let us have no regrets and fear no retribution

let us sow wide aspersions and offend quickly at the smallest slight

let us take dominion over the plants and the animals, the water and the air

let us foul and move on, defile and leave, waste and cynically smirk

let us take our jet skis upon the water, our ATVs over the land,

our snowmobiles on the snow and our SUVs upon the highways

let us call upon the strength and morality

of the forefathers we do not know

let us extol the glories and seek guidance from

the history that we have no need to study

let us contend that our self-centered actions are necessary

for those future generations whose potentials we daily shrink

let us extol our virtues and beat upon our chests

let us trumpet those same self-evidences time and time again

let us be kind to the foreigners though they be simple and abide in darkness

remembering always that we only obey the higher authority we have created

let us reach out our hands for subsidies and dole out expensive favors

while reminding the less fortunate of their personal responsibilities

let us slickly repackage issues into sound bites using clever slogans

but demand concrete certitude of scientists before taking any action

oh, yes, my dear brothers let us recite these catechisms as one

yes, and those who are not with us are most surely our enemies

let us ape and let us parrot, let us not see lest we shame

let us take for ourselves and preach to others of the Golden Rule

If That Next War Also Cannot Be Avoided

if the next war simply cannot be avoided

then, indeed it has been well marketed and sold

if the people will not accept a war

then it must have been wisely circumvented

if the allies do not support a war

then its packaging must be slicker for those in the homeland

if the enemy continues its hostile non-aggression

preemptive defensive strikes may just set things right

if the causes of a war do not really effect the peoples lives

doctored versions of the truth might just suffice

if the young rush like violent lemmings for a chance to kill and die

they are deemed valiant, patriotic and wise before their time

if the youth should question decisions that risk their very lives

they are but callow and foolish cowards, lacking in maturity

if the war is conducted from the air and enemies die in these video games

the people will not escape crude violence in their very homes

if the country is in a time of only sluggish growth

history shows that wars breathe new life into business and commerce

if the government faces vexing issues on the domestic front

ginning up external enemies might just freeze the opposition for a while

if a people swallow all their news spun into sound bites mouthed cleverly by spin doctors

they can be spared the horror of uncertainty and the even worse pain of thinking

if a war can be packaged slickly by smooth spokesmen in the homeland

those in charge can conduct a clean and corporate-like campaign

if a war comes to pass and security becomes an issue

the people can be lied to and spied upon in secret without a second thought

if the war machine demands it

resources from all places sacred and profane must be laid down before it

if the soldiers come home crippled and unable to adjust

they may be warehoused and hidden until they are forgotten

if we attack a place a third of our people cannot find upon a map

then have we, just perhaps, grown lazy, careless, stupid and quite foolish

if God directs us to spend staggering sums against some faceless enemy

it becomes easier to stand by while millions die quietly of neglected diseases

if a war requires well-planned military as well as marketing campaigns

certainly any given opponent can be demonized as a group of child-eating heathens

if those who kill from far above by pushing buttons are hailed as heroes

maybe we should ask - To what end our sanity has been forsaken?

if a suicidal enemy strikes without an army at quietly sleeping people

perhaps it's time to actually look for the source of this evil

if events on the ground do not follow the script we have set have set so boldly forth

we can continue with our own parts and the audience may not know, for a while

if the press should immorally dwell upon the killing, maiming and destruction

we can fabricate our own dispatches and pay to have them printed

if it is said that a war can be paid for with the resources of the conquered land

it is easy to ignore all the other enemies who possess nothing that we need

if we can make up a policy to hide the dead and obscure the grisly details

it will make it easier to call for sharp increases to already unimaginable defense funding

if we frame the debate as strong heroes against backsliding cowards

domestic opposition will be reduced to the stuttering of the marginalized

if we continuously label a universally deplored invasion as a great liberation

all of our propaganda will echo with freedom’s brave, true ring

if we consistently forge a non-existent link between our goals and terrorism

the polls will indicate their rising acceptance of our works of political fiction

if our campaign is ill-conceived, poorly-executed and bogs us down in civil war

to surrender would betray the honor of all of those we have foolishly sacrificed so far...

Bleeding Heart Coward

I changed my opinion on another important issue again, not too very long ago

I think I might be a gutless wonder who would have us blindly cut and run

Flag burning does not upset me as much as I know in my heart that it should

For some shameful reason, gay marriage does not loom large on my radar

I eat a lot of vegetables and fruit so I probably don’t think quite straight

Sipping green tea instead of Big Gulps has destroyed my masculinity

My hybrid seems real quiet and I don’t even want a hotrod muffler to crank it up

I never even thought of not paying off my credit card bill on time every month

The mere noise of our putative progress perturbs my squishy thinking

I don’t even own a single gasoline-powered form of so-called outdoor recreation

I admit I waste my time, space and energy trying to help out - by foolishly recycling

I really haven’t searched much, at all, for my very own personal Savior to accept

I want people to be nicer to the cows and pigs, but abortion does not inspire me

I foolishly spend more on food marked organic, whatever that word might mean

I suffer from these fantasies about slashing money from our dEfense budget

It even seems to me a tiny hatchback carries groceries more easily than a giant pickup

I often find it difficult to stand by old decisions when I am faced with newer facts

I just can’t escape the delusion that I really don’t have any choice in healthcare

I don’t celebrate my freedom by blowing up things built just to make a lot of bright noise

I, too, interpret my resigned silence as a sign of contemptibly weak and passive acceptance

I often must suspend belief and cannot make a decision due to lack of certainty

I am too frightened to go and kill civilians or be killed by invisible terrorists

Sometimes I get wishy-washy and confused over which one true god is on whose side

I am more concerned with clean air and water than the ten commandments

My thinking has grown fuzzy from considering too many facts and opinions

I guess I really cannot do the math because I can’t ignore so many variables

The pointless carnage makes me ill but still, I’d like for us to see the dead from both sides

I am willing to give them birth control rather than building outsourced prisons

I’m not fat or hypertensive and maybe that’s why I don’t hate the heathens

I don’t happen to believe that a sustainable lifestyle is a threat to my testosterone level

I often try to get out of the way of other drivers who seem to be in a real hurry

I am happy to put the old and/or discontinued back into useful service

I flip-flop among relativistic versions of the everlasting truth

I whimper with trepidation that my beliefs are not handed down from their heaven

I am afraid to chainsaw the remaining forests and drain off all the unproductive wetlands

I often waste time fretting foolishly about overpopulation and habitat destruction

I fear the smart bullets of the men with laser helmets and heavy combat boots

I’m not sure why, but I think I might have reason to worry over my loss of privacy

Quite often I prefer lentil or pea soup to tortured factory beef

I find it difficult to take on evangelical conviction and hard to believe official policy

NASCAR, pro football and Harleys are not among my entertainment favorites

I do not celebrate my newest leased car with overpriced drinks and dinner

I admit that I think it’s just wrong to spend more on weapons than all the other lands combined

I’m not looking for a place in any cemetery much less the honor of Arlington

Suits and ties and project plans and corporate policies seem vainly-artificial to me

I’m frightened of drilling out what oil remains before finding any alternative

I’m too timid and bleeding heart for this Shock&Awe business of preemptive dEfense

Non-point pollution sources like huge parking lots are among the silly concerns of mine

I just don’t see those great new jobs replacing all the off-shored for bonuses positions

I wonder about kids who do not learn, yet do not have time to be children

I wish I, too, could let go of the boreal toads, spotted owls and snail darters

I take little pride in our military strength and do not wish to be the world’s sheriff

I admire dedicated nurses and firefighters but lack trust for greedy developers and lobbyists

I have a recurring vision of an oncoming dark age, should we even survive our merry way there

I lack the stomach for dropping laser-guided bombs on targets I only see on a touchscreen

I am a coward but I would grab a torch and pitchfork to help hang the lawyers

I am against twisting and silencing science to suit a profit-driven, donor industry agenda

My regime would not encourage gambling, subsidize tobacco or promote guzzling gasoline

Foolishly, I worry more about our methods and effects than grabbing all I can, as fast as I can

Timidly from beneath a rock I squeak weakly at the thunderous passing herd

They laugh at me from their SUVs in my beat up old japanese economy car

The clerks shake their heads in disbelief as we reuse tattered grocery bags

I am afraid to refinance my credit card with the vaporous equity from my home

As they say, my squishy agenda has little benefit but costs lots of jobs and far too much money

The trucks downshift noisily and blow smoke as they sneeringly blow by me on my bicycle

Whole families laugh when they make the waves that rock our small canoes

Sadly, it makes no sense to me to drive a 3 ton diesel over to the mall

A small shrill inner voice keeps telling me that Ethanol won’t really help us at all

I selfishly fear for my own rights as we deal with those unlawful combatants

Shortsightedly, I detest abandoned mining sites that resemble old war zones

I catch myself chuckling over this whole Traditional Family Values ad campaign

Why, I even waste time fretting over disappearing frogs and the loss of our songbirds

I foolishly ask what will Jesus say when we leave behind only debts and destruction

They brush me back with their cars as I wimpily walk alongside their roads

I suffer a delusion that agricultural conglomerates are really not our good stewards

They pity us for cashing in those coupons and then cooking meals at home

I whisper that free enterprise need not just reduce to a greed-centric Social Darwinism

I squeak that human numbers far exceed capacity and will soon be corrected naturally

I fear that I would lose my mind should I entrust my soul to Jesus

I waste time poring over maps and considering faroff places that I may never visit

Marketeers despise us and quickly write us off in front of their esteemed investors

I have foolishly determined not to pay a penny to any oily funeral home director

I talk about my economic better’s behind their backs because they do not look me in the eye

Alas, those repeatedly manicured, watered, fertilized & poisoned lawns seem a silly waste of time

I shamefully admit I prefer a short walk rather than a long ride on a noisy ATV

I waste time taking a deep breath with my eyes closed, listening to the gentle rain

I would need powerful drugs to make cookie-cutter convenience stores look like progress

My sandals look weak and stupid but they keep my feet cool & healthy in the summer

I do not share the hate and fear of those whose lands my fellow citizens cannot even find on a map

Sadly, I won’t be charging a facelift, getting botoxed or painting over all my gray

Salads and cereals fill my timid stomach just as well as tubed hamburg and hydrolyzed chips

I suffer a delusion that animals have as many rights and as much soul as, we the people

We remain at home on weekends as others grimly pursue their angry wreckreation

I wander the roadless lands that they contend are inaccessible and non-productive

We are the despised deadbeats who pay off their credit cards every month

Timidly, I second-guess the policies I quietly did not support in the first place

My whispered mention of the single payer healthcare system is derided in their scripted debates

The evocative cry of a wild loon means more to me than some wack cell ringtone

Our reality shows involve nature and science and not witless attention seekers

I waste time making my own bread instead of drinking their soul-free corporate beer

Laughably, I even lament the noise of our progress that forces us to all this shouting

Unbelievably, I would actually take the time and effort to bring back the stars in the night sky

Though quite properly ignored, I suggest that our 2 party system is not constitutionally enshrined

They quickly warn of jobs and money when I mention the mercury in all of our waters & kid’s brains

Childishly I pray for a certain morality to somehow infuse the enshrined greed that drives us

I even support global treaties on chemical warfare, land mines and kid’s rights that we rejected

I am a yellow quitter who never supported our pre-emptive defensive war of liberation

My half-baked ideals blind me to man’s real nature and would put good families at grave risk

I quietly mention a flat tax on emissions to the terrible scorn of tougher citizens

I actually care what my direct ancestors, the Europeans, think of us - Now isn’t that a joke

Softly, and in Spanish, I say to them you should learn to speak English if you live in this country
So you see, as a true bleeding heart coward, I conspire to a squishy & expensive socialist agenda

I've Got Another Useless Meeting

I've got a meeting now so I can find out what they think the vendor said

so I will catch you later once we get the knife planted firmly in your backs

I'm headed to a meeting to get us all on the same page once again

I am a great communicating, over-complicating, facilitating whore

I'm all booked up with meetings now, so regretfully I can no longer do any real work

I report upon my meetings and we all stake out our positions going forward

I just came from a meeting and we must leap as if to some real action

your asses are all hanging out but I have heroically bought us a little time

I cannot let you go forward until after next week’s meeting

they want to get a consultant's take before they’ll be ready to commit

I called another meeting to re-review that which I will never understand

I must get my boss' sign-off or she could have my ass

I'm scheduling a meeting now because that is what I do so I can look as if I'm useful

I will adopt another's perspective but I can assure you that I remain on your side

I'm blocking out some time to meet about another topic about which I have no clue

So you must tell me what to tell my boss to tell the field to tell the customers

I'm late for my next meeting so I don't have time to discuss this issue

But I will ask around enough behind your back to parrot back some nonsense

I've got a ten o'clock right now that I can use to evade your probing questions

let's touch base again when I've had a chance to cover up my ass

I've got another overview review meeting, we still cannot get our story straight

once engineering dumbs it down enough, we can all get on the message

I'm off to a meeting, they all take precedence over what is on your mind

I will bring back your action items and our thoughts on moving forward

I'm preparing for this meeting, I must give a presentation

I am being stuffed with buzzwords which I can usually spell but not explain

I'm chairing a committee that will hold a set of meetings

the participants either already know the outcome or will never have a clue

I'm setting up a meeting between us and your offshore replacements

you will need to provide them training or you will get no severance

I'm sitting through another meeting, fighting to appear to be awake

I like to say I wish I still had time to get face-down in some real task

I'm going to present the results of another meeting to some department heads

they will distort this down to their direct reports and we will call it work

I'm lining up all the important players for a real brainstorming session

We’ll craft a co-operative solution that won’t satisfy any one of us, especially you

I’ve got a meeting right now but I will get back to you on this real soon

I’ll fill you in on the takeaway along with what they left upon your plates

God Help Me With These Mysterious Ways

god help me

bear witness to the stunningly thoughtless waste of our ad-induced lifestyle

bear witness to all that which is so rapidly disappearing for the sake of quick profits

god help me

ignore the things I waste time hating that do not really matter

ignore our incessant destruction of this blue-green miracle world

god help me

accept the fact that sociopathic control freaks are always in charge

accept the vast environmental rape which proceeds all around us

god help me

overlook the mass extinction we further with every shopping day

overlook the millions of starving, sick and thirsty who surround me

god help me

detail the holocaust we perpetrate on our cows, pigs and chickens

detail the absurdity of remotely-controlled, pointless mass consumption

god help me

hold on to this notion that our sheer numbers are our biggest concern

hold on to this vision that a better world might yet come to pass

god help me

forget the things in my past that time simply cannot not take away

forget this nightmare of a relentlessly approaching, dystopian future

god help me

save even some faint memories of all that's being so quickly destroyed

save my simple soul from the myriad of irreconcilable media visions

god help me

open my eyes and not be frightened into blindness by what I see

open my mind beyond mass entertainment and organized religion

god help me

lose the anger that still overwhelms me way too quickly and far too often

lose the greed fanned by those who package our lives for quick profits

god help me

awaken for whatever few remaining cool sweet dawns I am granted

awaken the dreamer that may still be slumbering somewhere within me

god help me

search out those good people whom I need badly to love and to respect

search out things that matter somewhere beyond the endless infomercials

god help me

hear the pre-dawn birds teaching me how to sort out my priorities

hear the trees whispering softly above me with a gentle breeze

god help me

feel calm despite the fright and confusion that fills me once again

feel secure despite the eternal formlessness that mindlessly awaits me

Thank You Corporate Fathers

thank you agribusiness for this thy bounty which we are about to mindlessly consume

          thank you for genetically modifying our wheat and our corn

only so that yield per acre might temporarily be marginally increased

thank you our petro-chemical paters in whose wisdom

          we spray on poisons that insects quickly evolve and overcome

but whose effects are magnified in our children for generations yet unborn

thank you dear corporate families

          for turning agriculture into a modern production industry

for bringing mass production to bear upon our infant’s diet

thank you dedicated chemists for your colorings and preservatives

          thank you for a shippable red tomato with no taste at all

and thank you so much for eradicating those non-producing songbirds

thank you pig farm operators for poisoning our ground water

          and forcing our porcine relatives to live and die without dignity

and thank you for producing super bugs by overusing antibiotics

thank you feedlot owners for making beef so tender

          through the force feeding of expensive and indigestible grain

to all those peaceful cattle enduring their multi-generational holocaust

thank you slaughterhouse operators for hiding all but the awful smell

          that we might fear no violence, blood or abuse

thank you for supplying McDonald's so cheaply and efficiently

thank you wonderful managers who captain all industries just the same

          for ridding us of those inefficient family farmers

and measuring the worth of irreplaceable croplands via your firm’s quarterly stock price

thank you corporate science for blessing us with genetically modified food

          for scattering it wide in our fields with utter ignorance of its effects

thank you for experimenting directly with nature, on our food supply

thank you dear snack food industry for giving me what I want

          for researching tasty combinations of sugar, salt and saturated fat

thank you helping me die young, obese, hypertensive and diabetic

thank you honored fast food industry for increasing my greasy portions

          of your ultra high fat french fries

thank you for all of the paper and plastic I have been able to throw on the ground

thank you clever chemists for providing color chips to salmon growers

          we marvel at unsustainable, meticulously measured, pelletized food

thank you for killing the few wild fish left with your dreadful farmed sea lice

thank you brave restaurant conglomerates for emptying the seas

          for making us feel safe while eating food stripped of its soul

thank you for caring more about your ROI than what you are serving us

thank you far-seeing industry leaders for laying us off to reduce expenses

          for sending our jobs overseas and cutting out our benefits

thank you for slashing our retirement and 'earning' huge yearly bonuses

thank you industry mavens who pumped stocks to chumps before dumping their own,

          who enjoyed IPO favors and reciprocal agreements

thank you for consistently under-performing yet always taking a bigger cut

thank you vapid salesmen forever pumped up on greed

          whose wonders of life are new clothes, cars, boats and jewelry

thank you for promoting useless goods and thoughtlessly wasting finite resources

thank you attention-seeking politician, part actor, part suckup and part inveterate liar

          you peddle influence and favors and strike deals behind closed doors

thank you for the brilliant merger of government with business and industry

thank you slick media moguls, you succeed by modeling us as ignorant sheep

          then targeting us with your mindless slick form over substance

thank you and I wipe my ass with your contribution to intellectual property

thank you frightened and tired little managers everywhere for thinking quite alike

          making a living spending all of your time getting on the same page

thank you for never being able to hide your desperate eagerness to please

thank you revered advertising gurus who hammered home any message

          until it penetrated our skulls and became part of our lives

you should be put away and tortured with your own empty propaganda   

thank you oh brave government and business partnership, for making

          it cheaper to rip up untouched land than to renew your own decayed developments

you are living examples to us all of our sacred traditional values in action

thank you hard-working spin doctors of each and every foul stripe

          your ministrations are useful in all types of situations

thank you for being there to nurture our revered democratic process

thank you great, rich and powerful corporate shamans

          for your wondrous  and wise vision of a truly homogenized world

where we all eat the same food, hear the same radio and watch the same tv

thank you purveyors of what you call news

          19 minutes an hour of louder lies called commercials

then, of course, there's all-important Corporate Sports, Entertainment and the Hollywood News

thank you clever real estate developers and hungry, opportunistic salesmen

          growing rich because we let you tear the very face right off our lands

selling us our dreams and walking away as the bulldozers move in next door

thank you gallant entrepreneurs charging bravely forward

          fueled by noble greed, cutting expenses and slashing at red tape

you need not worry for this hatred is not personal, as this is strictly business

thank you magnificent recording industry leaders

          protecting the sacred rights of performing artists that you screwed

maintaining your vicious strangleholds by prosecuting your very customers

thank you doughty middle-aged female mid-level managers

          we are blessed to have witnessed your power and your wisdom

luckily for the future, you had more time for your family than you allowed for your work

thank you dedicated corporate outsourcers, bravely exporting decent jobs

          paying out but ten percent but charging at least fifty

and adding absolutely nothing of value to either side of the transaction

thank you visionary cable television magnates

          you gave us 300 specialty channels all aimed at the average 6th grader

each one targeting a niche market with matching commercials in mind

thank you wise and holy corporate fathers, we honor your spiritual quest

          we hope that you will share the cosmic vision you have been granted

we anxiously await the news of your death outside the walls of your locked compounds

The West Is Dead

     As of approximately 1987

Trapped under the weight of ignorant fuckheads in SUVs with expensive fly rods, ATVs, snowmobiles, jet skis, dirt bikes, skis, snowshoes, personal water craft, mountain bikes and

fast food franchises in once-small towns.

Lost under countless thoughtless cigarette butts, beer bottles, fastfood boxes and

candy wrappers rotting in once-pristine snowbanks.

Hemmed in, cut off and run down by trophy homes, strip malls, recreation centers, bike paths, sidewalks, vanity fences and water-guzzling non-native landscaping

Flooded so that more people could arrive and have good water to waste,

flooded so that habitat could disappear and those animals...could just go away,

Filled so that the land could be developed,

Filled so that wetlands might be reclaimed

and those birds we never looked at, will not be seen again

Cut with sharp chainsaws, scraped by mighty bulldozers, dug by powerful cranes,

subdued and tied down that our families might safely come and live

Degraded by Wal-Mart, 7-Eleven, KFC, Burger King

and the smiley cheap-assed, knocked-off, use once and throw it away imports

that we demand to make our lives better

Punished by millions of thoughtless pleasure seeking units,

transformed into the exurbia from which they once provided escape;

trashed and abused, developed and sub-divided, leased, taxed,

tamed and made safe for people just like you and me

Warmed up by our exhausts, sullied by our mechanical and organic droppings,

ripped by the sick macho sounds of our great vehicles,

dammed and drilled, trailed and off-roaded,

microwave and cell phone-towered,

electrical-lined and gas distribution-routed

We wonder where what anyone ever saw here might have gone

and so we move on, to that Next Great Place.

Cleared and graded, denuded and staked, dug and poured, left to harden,

left to scattered weeds and cracking earth

left fit to have things carelessly thrown away on, and walked away from

Shamed and betrayed by the same crowd with the same shortsighted,

greedy development strategy used from coast-to-coast,

from pristine water-filtering meadow to oil-runoff-bearing asphalt,

from part of an ecosystem to packaged corporate strip mall.

Screaming in agony and sobbing with pain,

mere shadows of the perfection that Winter snow once brought,

struggling pathetically to rise once again with every Spring,

not a trace of the vast beautiful and clean empty openness that inspired the ancient ones,

just a million cars traveling past developments that weren't built to last,

places that turn the innocent child that was the West

into the diseased and dirty whore of our dreams

Then blindfolded, gang-raped, slammed to her knees,

dryly rearended while being kicked in the face.

Held without charges, convicted without trial, sentenced without wisdom,

locked up and guarded by sadists and forgotten by humans.

Offered, listed, speculated-upon, downright pimped and made available by faceless

well-groomed aliens wearing sunglasses and costly makeup,

in expensive climate-controlled cars behind closed and tinted windows,

buying zoning, cutting deals and getting in early,

coming away with more cash, moving on once again,

building out and getting over, getting theirs and getting out

And you can take it easy or you can take it hard,

but you are going to take it…for the rest of your lives.

And they will take what remains right up in your faces,

And then lock their gates behind them

and you will see them coming and they will watch you go,

safe behind their walls with lots of money and the finest views remaining

Fekin’ Tree Hugger

Them trees ain’t making too much goddamn noise in the middle of the night

Don’t see them throwing butts and cans and papers all over on the ground

Not burning any fossil fuels just for fun or even for shortsighted profits

Haven’t exported any factory jobs to Malaysia as far as I can make it out

They don’t push no phony, lying rationalizations about the agenda they pursue

Don’t see it as jobs and people versus some useless, sissy, squishy environment

You won’t see them rendering all the places where they grow unfit for other life forms

Have enough sense to shelter, shade and filter the water of the rivers and the streams

Will not hire pandering lobbyists and whoring lawyers to push their greedy, shortsighted agendas

Cannot fathom the acid that’s now in the rain for which they raise their limbs to gather

Ain’t dropping more ignorant and wasteful offspring with plastic Jesus’ blessing

Haven’t caused mass extinction or global warming in their survival struggles

Fekin’ trees are so damn quiet, maybe that’s why we just cain’t trust them

Don’t whine about discrimination when they get chainsawed and bulldozed

Humbly take in our CO2 wastes and give off the oxygen that we breathe

Don’t need no expensive pollution control equipment or intrusive federal regulation

Naturally thin themselves out when they get too thick to thrive

Never made up even one of them bullshit fantasies and called it a religion

Give it up to forest fires to enrich the soil and restart their grand succession

Ain’t a greedy developer among them who gladly trades sustaining habitat for dollars

Don’t have to make no spiritual search because grace is innately of their essence

Dignified without pretension even when slashed and burned and dragged away

Never filled with pride, anger, frustration or, intoxicating beverages

Won’t be caught dumping toxic wastes and then declaring bankruptcy

Ain’t never been accused of financing their survival struggle with unpaid credit cards

Don’t have to leave a place after a while because they have fouled it so badly

Won’t belittle our puny efforts or cast us as girlish, weak and liberal

Cannot invent and do not believe but are able to adapt slowly with a steady grace

Struggle hard to survive without any false sense of privilege or righteousness

Don’t have no phony souls to lose to superstition, hate or lust or war

Never get drunk and loud and have to wake up sick and guilty

Don’t waste more than they save or take more than they can give

Can’t even dump shit all over the ground and then just waltz on off

Don’t profit from the mooching songbirds who live off them without paying any rent

Haven’t heard them whining for subsidies while preaching about free trade

Probably be around yet another 65 million years, once we're gone again