Watch Your Step

Watch Your Step By Alfred Brock   Introduction These poems are meant to be sung. They are all songs. Our World Experience is a shared experience. We are seeing the same things played out all around the world. As the sorrow and horror is becoming more recognizable so are the solutions and actions that people can take to correct them and the remove them. So, sing your heart out!  Contents Rejoice In All These Wonders 3 Through The Darkest Night To Day 7 If You Don’t Fight For Your Need 9 Watch It On The Color T V 14 All To Their Graves 18 The Lewiston Bus 21 Remember On A Summer’s Day 24 Your Neighbors Aren’t Alive 28 To Call The Government A Liar 32 USA, USA, USA 35 Their Morality Is A Come On 38 They Will Move It Again 45 Had All the Time There Been Dead 48 Where the Governor lives in a trance 53 But Chemicals They Keep On A List 58 The Republic Is Destroyed 61 You See? 66 Instead 68 This Beautiful Sky 72 Eagles Will Go 77 Slowly Flashing Light 81 What Does It All Mean to Me? 85 To the Politburo of China 89 Lifts My Spirits Higher 93 They Were On Their Way 96 Is The American Condition 100 On Your Track 105 While We Wait 109 When the Song of Sadness Lingers 112 It Goes On and On 117 Green Made of Paper 123 Were They The Best? 129 Round and Round and Round 134 Before Money Takes It Away 138 When All You Have Is A Fiddle 144 Money Strapped To Your Shoe 149 Whatcha' Gonna' Do Today? 155 Sharing This Lifeline 158 Looking For You 160 It’s Another Chance to Play 163 You Are My Very Last Chance 166 That’s All We Can See 168 God’s Face 174 So Be Sure 177 Thirty Five Years 181 The Enemy of Every Boy and Girl 185 It Isn’t Over In A Day 191 Meeting Adjourned 195 We Thankfully Pray 197 Go Fallow 201 Good Fortune Like Rain 209 New Beginning 213 Crashing Down 216 It’s All Set In Gold 220 His Blessings To Show 222 Close By My Girl 226 Firmly Believing 230 Your Sound 233 After Judgement Day 237 I just can’t comprehend 241 We Are Blest 246 In Their Arms 249 Faster 252 We’ll See 255   Rejoice In All These Wonders When you walk on the Earth you need to watch your step There are many snares and traps set around There’s quite a few people dressed in suits and power Who carefully arrange to try and bring you down If your life is filled with friends and family You have a certain kind of liberty Within that though there is also responsibility To care for those who certainly care for you You’ll know what to do and when you need to do it Unless you’re filled with anger and displeasure It’s hard to make a sure and accurate measure If all you’re seeking is some kind of sneaking pleasure Violence has no place in a peaceful community When violence breaks out the weak have no immunity A senior can be hurt or a child struck down When a wild eyed bully starts screaming in town Talking is a gift given to many but not to all When someone tries to stifle it then it’s time to call For help from those who protect your natural rights Those natural rights do not include public fights The law some say is an answer to all This can be true but some try to make you fall Trick you with their words and truths they have bent That kind will take what is your’s and tell you it was lent Freedom is not free we should all know that by now Some pretend you’re not free if you need a hand somehow That’s just not so and not what makes this place go We all help each other and it’s a pleasure and an honor We don’t have a King or Queen to tell us what we’ve seen We know we need each other and our work is just enough We work and build to show who will come who have been And all the while we sing and dance and rejoice in all these wonders   This Love Is One Truly Born In the morning, I awake to the light Moving through the window from the misty morning Cold days follow cold nights It will be another full and no time for groaning This love will rise in the morning This love is one truly born There are some people who watch me from the sides They are so unhappy and they have made their choice They prepare to stop me and all those with us besides They’ve decided to try and shut up my voice This love will rise in the morning This love is one truly born They don’t want to see this dream come true They don’t want to do the work for me and you Would rather take what others have And give up their lives for gold This love will rise in the morning This love is one truly born I’ve been derided for speaking of peace I’ve been put down for singing about freedom I stood out among them and called their names One then began to crawl and shout Here they come down in the city They say they hold death in contempt There is a battle for what is good and right We will see when they come into the light When the Sun shines we can hear these words Love is a great and mighty cloak That shields us all from harm The heart that loves is like the Oak You go to the place you come from This love will rise in the morning This love is one truly born This love will rise in the morning This love is one truly born Through The Darkest Night To Day Awaiting dawn upon the sea Can be an adventure you’ll see But if you wait in the dark for long The Ocean mist may quiet your song Unless your heart is free and easy Has been held up by the Spirit Then you can find your way Through the darkest night to day Times go by that are dark and foreboding Filled with fear and loneliness It’s at this time you can just reach out To your Lord to lead your way home Unless your heart is free and easy Has been held up by the Spirit Then you can find your way Through the darkest night to day Jesus went up to Calvary To shed his blood for you and me What lies can you tell or woe can you cause That you truly think He won’t see? Unless your heart is free and easy Has been held up by the Spirit Then you can find your way Though the darkest night to day A long and lonesome toiling Can come in a life full of gladness It is at that time you will find With Jesus you find steadfastness Unless your heart is free and easy Has been held up by the Spirit Then you can find your way Though the darkest night to day You’re never alone in this world He told us all from on high If your heart is angry and soiled Just give it all up to Him Unless your heart is free and easy Has been held up by the Spirit Then you can find your way Through the darkest night to day If You Don’t Fight For Your Need They were raised when the Dust Bowl grew The crops were destroyed as the wind blew They learned their ABC’s in one room schools Their parents fought World War One They were certainly no fools They don’t care about you They do what they do For money and fame and greed It’s you who will pay If you don’t fight for your need So they grew up in the Depression Which is what we now call a Recession They learned from the best They stole from the rest And World War Two rolled around Ignorant Killers fighting over the same ground Not to be considered less than the best They pushed forward and pushed down the rest Drunk and disorderly they went about their jobs They pay was good even though they were slobs They built two cities out in the desert Working on things that the Devil called his own They laughed and they joked and almost went broke As they drank themselves into a stupor They thought themselves heroes For fighting the Furor They don’t care about you They do what they do For money and fame and greed It’s you who will pay If you don’t fight for your need Of course, the bombs they made Were sent the other way Burning Japanese cities to a cinder While over in Europe it was conventional murder Burning cities and grinding people to burger When they were done They blew up the Sun It rose up high in the deserts From their labors and greed They developed a need For more nuclear weapons and bombs They don’t care about you They do what they do For money and fame and greed It’s you who will pay If you don’t fight for your need Quietly, so quietly, in their wake They left liquid poisons in lakes Dirt and dust, rocks and clay Irradiated, still burn to this day From Hanford, Washington they sent it in trucks To Lewiston, New York, for treatment When it got there the banks were all bare So they buried it in the ground by the river Seneca Indians were set up as guards They didn’t know what was buried in their yards When they found out They started to shout Get this poison out of here! The decision was made to dig it all up Send it to Michigan by truck They take anything there In Michigan where People are worth less than a buck They don’t care about you They do what they do For money and fame and greed It’s you who will pay If you don’t fight for your need Each time it is moved the stain of death spreads Who would trust this to such empty heads? It’s true money talks only to those who don’t listen The old men and women who pretend to be wise Are safe and secure that they will be dead When the impacts of what they do Ends their sick story When everyone else around dies They don’t care about you They do what they do For money and fame and greed It’s you who will pay If you don’t fight for your need   Watch It On The Color T V It’s a wide world underneath us Several thousand miles thick They speak through the wires Some know they are liars The rest of them are just sick Driven down by the boss They never measure the loss As long as Friday rolls around They are not looking for freedom Just escape and protection From the angry, burning wall of sound It’s a modern world With all the modern girls The modern men are all in fashion No one knows just what is happening As fire round the modern world rolls What have you done this morning? Same thing as every other day There’s really no time for learning That’s what we all learned to say What the purpose for advanced classes? To provide the rich phony passes For rich food and drink While society sinks And war rises on the horizon It’s a modern world With all the modern girls The modern men are all in fashion No one knows just what is happening As fire round the modern world rolls What’s the point the banks ask Pushing paper is a task If you don’t do it daily you’re sunk Got to pile it up and not lose any No one notices that output has shrunk Every day hunger grows wider The banker eats another slider It’ll be okay when the correction begins It will make everyone rich and clean sins It’s a modern world With all the modern girls The modern men are all in fashion No one knows just what is happening As fire round the modern world rolls Wars are now fought Over things that were bought With blood, sweat, hate and dread They cross colonial lines Bury millions of mines To separate mother from daughter Now they kill for the water Drive off the father and son When the people are dead Some crook raises up his head Declares that the good guys have won That’s just before His enemies have scored And are provided new guns The next day he’ll be on the run We watch it on the news for fun It’s a modern world With all the modern girls The modern men are all in fashion No one knows just what is happening As fire round the modern world rolls Fire rolls around the world Watch it on the color t v   All To Their Graves Out in the field It’s hard when you’re told not to yield And you turn around to see The ones who are supposed to be Your allies and your friends Working with your enemies To plan their own ends When there’s no way to reach out And you just want to shout But the only ones who hear you Are the ones you know will hurt you How can they be quiet? How did all the help go silent? When you turn upon your neighbor You turn upon your self When you refuse someone safe harbor You’ll be next upon the shelf People don’t realize We all work together People don’t realize We are all hit by the weather When it comes It comes down hard There are people who pray on their knees With curses burning in their hearts Their greed and fury will never please Their desire to destroy when it starts So you must trust yourself Protect your family Find the ones who help Band together for safety If you are wondering who is coming Look down into your hands If they were coming to help They wouldn’t be taking your lands When the weak willed person Sits in a seat of power Greed is their only reason For climbing up that tower They will lie and steal and kill Pretend to bend you to their will But it’s all just violence Born from out the silence Of the ones born to lead Who see to their own need As they ring their dinner bell Summon the demons all from hell So be good to your brother and sister Take cover in the course of a twister If you are betrayed Don’t be afraid It’s just time till the reaper returns And takes the evil all to their graves   The Lewiston Bus The land of the free and the home of the brave When your own country poisons you Who do you think they are going to save? Just what is it that these people do? In World War two they made a bomb They left their poisons on the ground Someone came up with a plan Clean it up and transport it All across the land So they took it from Hanford, Washington All the way to Lewiston, New York A big fancy company was going to clean it all up Get paid really well for the work Then they changed the requirements The charges mounted higher and higher So that company closed up and ran Left a radioactive, slow burning fire Then the government stepped back in They came up with a great plan, again They buried it and put a nice building on top You’d never know where that stuff had been But, years and years later, When cancer and birth defects started up Someone realized the blunder So they decided to dig it all up They found it had burned its way into the Earth Making its way towards the Niagara River There was nothing else to be done then So they paid someone else to come take it Secretly they prepared a giant hill Laid out in post-modern style They brought all the stuff from that radioactive pile Right next to river and lake Now its started its journey again Into women’s bodies and men’s souls The people who took it don’t care By the time it starts creating monsters They’ll all be dead and buried Now back in old Lewiston it turns out There’s even more than they ever expected They have to dig a mountain out Or someone will say they’re neglected How did this all come to be? Could be the one point five billion loan To restart a dangerous nuclear reactor In exchange to irradiate our bones So long Governor Whitmer You’ve done so much to us So long Governor Whitmer Here’s your ticket for the Lewiston Bus   Remember On A Summer’s Day A long cold day has a special kind of feel It can leave you empty and dejected Or full of love and zeal It’s the way you look at it, my friend, she suggested It’s just some words they say To remember on a Summer’s day Walls of vertical stone, polished to a shining gray Dry wind blowing down the street Taking all the words away Leaving just a faint desire to meet It’s just some words they say To remember on a Summer’s day It was a moment’s meeting So imperfect and fleeting That now I see and feel and hear As if she were still near It’s just some words they say To remember on a Summer’s day When you don’t have a scarf Only a ragged collar to embrace At least it’s not the wide open wharf With the river wind on my face It’s just some words they say To remember on a Summer’s day So I turned towards her In happy regard It was all done in a whirr I had caught myself off guard It’s just some words they say To remember on a Summer’s day When I remembered to remember It was too late to forget In that cold and frigid November I recall that time still yet It’s just some words they say To remember on a Summer’s day Plastic flowers around the empty fountain They look so gay in June Walking straight along is just like climbing a mountain How did that happen to be gone all too soon? It’s just some words they say To remember on a Summer’s day Showering down in Spring Rain from a Summer Storm Autumn wetness on my ring In Winter gray no form It’s just some words they say To remember on a Summer’s day I kick the empty sidewalk bare Skip a step as I walk on up Look out with an empty city stare With a heart like a broken cup It’s just some words they say To remember on a Summer’s day At least the sky is blue The clouds are gray Just like the windows’ steel blue Reflections are all that’s left today It’s just some words they say To remember on a Summer’s day To remember on a Summer’s day Remember on a Summer’s day   Your Neighbors Aren’t Alive The water looks really pretty today I’d like to go for a swim But the sign says stay away The water is polluted here Yes, the water is polluted here Maybe I’ll sit and roll up my sock Dangle my feet in the water Step real careful from rock to rock But the water is polluted here The water is polluted here I’ll take a rod and a reel Go out upon the pier See how the fishing might feet But the water, the water, is polluted here Oh, yes, the water is polluted here I took a walk up the path In the beautiful park near my house Thought I put my feet on the grass But the soil is polluted here The soil is polluted here I went a little farther up into the forest Where the blackberry bushes grow Thought I’d eat a few and take a rest But the soil is polluted here Yes, the soil is polluted here So I ran and I ran down the path To a place down back of the creek It was just the kind of nature I seek But they had stored chemicals here They store up the chemicals here So I leaped and I bounded on through the dell I was about to give a shout and a yell When I had to stop short because There was an open sewer hole here Yes, there was an open sewer hole here I walked down the street to go and see my friend I walked all the way to the end Then I saw the sidewalk leaking oils They had buried the pesticides here Yes, they buried pesticides here I went for a drive in my car Just to go and get some fresh air I hadn’t driven too far When I noticed the landfill was on fire Yes, the landfill was burning with fire I stood outside in the evening time Watching the fireflies blinking When I smelled the exhaust of benzene The factory chimneys were smoking Yes, the factory chimneys were smoking What are they doing? Doing over there The regulators fill out forms The polluters don’t even care A billion dollar corporation That won’t sweep it’s own drive Will tell you they’re not responsible Just because your neighbors aren’t alive   To Call The Government A Liar Let’s have a demonstration they say Let’s get out there and show the way There’s some irradiated dirt coming in from New York The Governor didn’t tell us, what a dork! Now they want to bury it as soon as they can Otherwise someone may uncover their plan A long time ago Eighty years or so They were having a World War and decided to blow A hole in Japan to stop the whole show They actually made two and it was a slam Two cities destroyed blam, blam! It took a long time and a lot of thinking To make those bombs while they were all drinking Finally they did it through the Manhattan Project Which was done everywhere except New York City What a pity Out in Hanford, Washington they poisoned the desert It all rolled down to the Columbia river just to be curt It’s still rolling on just under the dirt They packed a bunch up and sent it to Lewiston, New York Where a guy said he’d clean it but got cheated, what a dork! They abandoned the work and all ran away Leaving the radioactive dirt just blowing away So the government decided to bury it again Didn’t work the first time but it didn’t stop them If you know what I’m sayin’ So there it sat till someone realized Hey, we’re seeing lots of birth defects All the workers have cancer Do you think it could be because Of the toxic radioactive dirt effects? So New York huddled with Michigan Which will take anything A few bucks and some change Then Lansing got strange Start up a failed reactor Bury atomic waste to increase the fear factor Money flies around and it’s alright Just as long as decisions are kept out of sight Now the Federal Government, which made that poison clay Points at Michigan and says States Rights have the say The United States Army Corps of Engineers looks on with dismay They’d bury anything they’re told, you can hear the General say New York says it’s not theirs and it just has to go Washington says Hanford will soon be part of Idaho So gleefully the Governor of Michigan cries out We will take it, we will take it, bring it on out! You see in Michigan they do not record birth defects So if you’re checking those files you will not see mutation effects The Governor has it all covered with the Department of Energy, Great Lakes and the Environment She wrapped it all up as a great big present To the waste companies that invest in Michigan Employee retirement So there may be a demonstration It probably won’t change the situation Some politicians have new cars The businessmen drink at the bars The water is poisoned and the worst by far Is no one is told the truth And it’s against the law To call the government a liar USA, USA, USA You cannot establish lasting peace By threatening eternal war If you don’t let people get a piece You’re never going to get far You cannot claim a peaceful world By blanketing the Earth with war The claims being made are all curled When the flames reach up too far You cannot claim everyone’s on board If you cut down opinion by sword It’s one thing to claim self-defence Another to strike first in offense You cannot claim to be best place If you ensure there’s not enough space For family, friends and freedom You can’t cook liberty on medium You cannot claim you care about health When you poison the people by stealth There’s no balancing the books in hell Even though you think you’re doing well You cannot claim to be a leader If your full time job is deceiver If it’s all about money No one thinks that it’s funny No one can do everything at once If you pretend to then you are a dunce We cannot trust you with our lives When you’re involved no one survives Children are important you know They can’t eat the poison you sow We will not stand by while you slay This is not our game you play We love our families and know you do yours But we would not sacrifice yours as you’re doing to ours The time has passed when we will leave you alone We will not have royalty nor Earthly throne Michigan, Michigan, Michigan! We will all be free again! We will be free – you will not stay! U S A, U S A, U S A!   Their Morality Is A Come On In the Sun I stand my ground All alone without a sound The trucks roll up and roll on by Each load causing someone to die The Governor doesn’t care and looks on with a glare Didn’t make President so now everyone must pay Sitting in an office with a far away stare Sitting in an office far, far away We set things up to run themselves We vote and then turn back to ourselves Living our lives expecting the good It’s a terrible day when evil arrives by flood I don’t have enough money to up and get away Nobody really does these days Though when the plans are made to dig our graves The rich make sure their security is saved Don’t know what to say when we see Government cronies spiking the tea Injecting toxic waste two thousand feet down Two hundred feet from a lake in a town The Supervisor walks with his head hung down While the Governor descends with a diamond crown Watch all your children or they will let them drown In a storm of nuclear waste Mixed up in a sickening paste They used to call Michigan The Winter Wonderland Now the snow is falling all red We remember the living While they stack up the dead Stealing is their idea of giving The numbers all rise No need to disguise The origin of cancers and illness They point at each other and blame all the other They laugh at their deadly silliness You mean that you didn’t? I didn’t know that? Why don’t you call me next week for cricket? I don’t play that game You should know by my name Just take what you get all the same It was a pleasant city by the name of Belleville Then Van Buren Charter Township choked it cold The politicians wrangle and do just what they will They know that with waste they’ve struck gold We trusted them too easily They’ve all behaved so sleazily Now the children pay the price for laxness Then the Governor declares If you want all this fixed You know I’ll have to raise your taxes One day this old Governor will be gone A new one will rise with a brand new song Prepared to do right Fight the good fight And hide all the things that they did Yes, they want these poisonous truths to stay hid   They are lying to us and I don’t say that lightly I just read somewhere that if I do it even brightly That if I say the government is lying They will make my life hell without even trying The Governor of Michigan and the Governor of New York Decided to make a deal in the cold and dark They are exchanging toxic nuclear waste As if it were bright whitening tooth paste They say they will bury the stuff underground They are rushing with trucks all around The money is flying all around in the air The two governors act like they don’t care The problem is that they say it’s all safe But the lies that they tell make people chafe They say that the nuclear waste they are moving Is all safe and fine and will stay in one place over time That is not exactly true and it seems they defy common sense Didn’t they go to the same schools as you and I or are they playing fence? When the poisons were moved from Hanford, Washington To sleepy Lewiston, New York There was quite a bit and dangerous But the people wanted money and were languorous As it sat there nearly a century The radioactive materials spread Not only directly but through ionization You see radioactive materials Make other materials Radioactive Yes radioactive materials Make other materials Radioactive They think we are fools as their money goes in pools To shore up their pyramid schemes You might not know this but the companies that do this Invest in retirement dreams Of the very officers and personnel that are supposed to protect your life Their money flows into their pockets and out of yours Just as quick as a song on a fife So the rivers polluted now number three The Columbia, Niagara and sleepy Huron They will lie to you directly so that you don’t see Their pretense at morality is a come on   They Will Move It Again The Hanford Site is a place in Washington State It is referred to as a decommissioned nuclear production complex It was operated by the United States federal government Located on the Columbia River in Benton County, Washington Some secretive folks called it Site W Others referred to it as its polite name The Hanford Nuclear Reservation It was set up in 1943 as part of the Manhattan Project The Manhattan Project was a crazy industrial program Called research and development during World War II They were to make the first nuclear weapons The United States, Canada and England worked together Major General Leslie Groves of the U.S. Army was the commander for a while At the site there was Hanford Engineer Works and B Reactor It was the first industrial plutonium production reactor on Earth Plutonium manufactured there made the first atomic bomb Tested in the Trinity nuclear test Then in the Fat Man bomb used to burn Nagasaki Japan still won’t buy apples from Washington because of the bomb But mostly because the State of Washington seized Japanese-American farms So, the war ended and it was time to make more money It was immediately obvious but not admitted for decades That Hanford would poison the Columbia River So a deal was cut with a company in Lewiston, New York On the other side of the country To take the waste, process and clean it, so they took a bit away Within two years the government changed the rules The company couldn’t afford to do the work So they split The government buried the material where it was dropped They left it there for decades when it became obvious That the material they deposited had grown in size Was heading to the Niagara River And apparently raised cancer and birth defect rates Off the scale So they decided as the foolish will To move it again The more they dug the more they found But they wouldn’t listen to sense They truck it across the country again Now to the great Midwest They are planting it next to the Huron River In the middle of two million people Now the retirement funds of Michigan Have a sizeable investment in the waste companies No body is mentioning that Eventually it will all come out in the wash Around the time cancer and birth defects rise in Michigan Then they will go and move it again   Had All the Time There Been Dead Falling down, way, way down It’s the only way to go When you try to rise they push you down Or is it the other way around? He spoke to me from behind a screen That was invisible to all Where he’d been I had been Long before his fall But he went farther before he came back He went right out to the ledge It’s amazing that he did not crack Or maybe he did after he looked over the edge Starting with drinking and smoking With friends laughing and joking He ended up retching and choking All alone on the edge of his bed Living with mother and father Longer, much longer than you and I After a while he just didn’t bother Caught up in his spinning sky One day he was really hard up Looking for some good stuff It was the same old story no matter where he went When he went there he pretended to be sent Finally this time he related to us In front of some well-meaning people He had got off a bus Headed toward a house, right across from a church with a steeple He had to climb in though a little small hole That had been pulled out from a plywood sheet Once in the house he wanted to be whole He thought he knew the kind he would meet But now he had crossed Some line in the air He felt he was lost When he sat in a chair That’s when he began to be bossed Money changed hands and the stuff was prepared But it would take a while the boss said Two men stood around and looked on his face He pretended he was all good with them Smiles played out on their long, thin faces Amusement appeared there in traces The Boss started talking and introduced his friend Now was beginning the end The conversation went on For long, long, long He had to say hi and make greetings Of all that he’d had he already knew Somehow this was the strangest of meetings The Boss sat straight and leaned into his man His arm tucked around his shoulders The speaker was sitting and following along But his eyes in his heads were like boulders He remembered introducing himself Talking for what seemed hours Then someone brought from a shelf Something that made our speaker cower A small bag of smack They took from the back Gave it to him for his money He looked really glad his face was all sunny He got ready to go when he stopped The Boss man was smiling His friends they were laughing The man by his side sat quiet His arm it was raising in glad greeting waving Waving far above his head That’s when our speaker stopped speaking And revealed that the man with he had been conversing Had all the time there been dead   Where the Governor lives in a trance In the old days everyone believed That the King and Queen Through God received Immaculate and unquestionable knowledge We replaced the King and Queen With elected representatives Who were to see after our interests But first check with us on all matters of import Things have strayed away From those original logical ways Now this is a strange today Where some elected officials Are now Oracles For example let’s look At the wonderful book That Governor Whitmer is writing in Michigan This story I tell cannot be made up again It all starts with money And ends up with the same For some the story is funny For others a merry game For the people who sicken and die The Oracle will not cry That’s not included in services Provided by God in the sky There was a shortfall in Retirements That’s naughty for any governments So something needed to be done First they put cities and towns under the gun Someone smelled a rat So they tried to back off of that But the losses from Russian and Chinese paper Were looming up to be what they appear So wild choices were made They decided to trade Michigan Citizen lives for pay Michigan and New York had one thing in common Both of their bank accounts had just about hit bottom If they didn’t cover it up right They’d have their dirt in the light Then they found the radioactive waste It was something sweet they could taste The decision was made to move it away In a shell game that would really, really pay Trucks were made ready They just had to hold steady If their environmental friends found out They would raise the ugliest shout Lucky for them no birds or animals were in danger Just some ladies and gentleman and their baby strangers The retirement funds were stabilized By mountains of atomic waste vaporized Injected into the Earth Now it wasn’t safe to give birth But the investments were safe In the struggling waste That had become to be known Municipal Retirement It began to unravel Not with a judge or a gavel But when one lady spied what was coming in trucks She realized quite quickly that it will also hurt children If they try so hard to keep it away from the ducks In Michigan you’ll know It’s corn that they grow All straight and careful in rows If any defects are encountered They are rigidly recorded and counted So the defect doesn’t happen again But as for people a whole generation Is held with less than veneration When it’s decided in a back room That though cancer and birth defects loom There will be no counting Even as disaster is mounting Because that would upset the political balance So their party became a death dance Welcome to Michigan Where the Governor lives in a trance   But Chemicals They Keep On A List Up in the sky the brown clouds fly It’s hard to tell when they will pass by White clouds come and white clouds go Brown clouds move fast and move low Sometimes the taint in the wind Is invisible and they think it hides their sin To be fair Some are unaware Of the harm they do to their neighbors After all they are just doing their labors Excuses aside People need to see the other side Of the action they take And the results they make It’s just another day when the breeze Brings on a painful sneeze Or the odor of paint and thinner Comes down on the skin of the winner How can this be good To pain young lungs In the neighborhood? Exactly what purpose Does creating all this refuse Fulfill in the duties of life? When actions by the absent Cause parents undue strife All because they can’t own but rent Even homeowners here Who have lived there for years Are unable to figure what it’s about Why should children cough when they go out Neighbors don’t see What happens to family In the next town over But they should know The poisons from here find their way over there Equally poisoning each other is not really fair When all it does is profit some unknown persons In the end what is happening only worsens It used to be a glad and happy day Work real hard and get your well earned pay Now its changed Into something strange There is no beginning and no end Just a flow of drugs and alcohol to bend The mind, the soul, the body Building a society sick and shoddy To make it all worse War looms like a curse As they discuss what will feed the economy They destroy farmland and cut up the agronomy Then they look for their hope in astronomy While children grow slowly They hold the poor lowly Crushing them not with their fist But chemicals they keep on a list   The Republic Is Destroyed There is a lawyer standing on Wall Street Calling out that Corporations are people Saying that if they are regulated They will all be strangulated A frightening thought if real It just doesn’t have a truthful feel Just across the way Among the buildings of high steel gray In front of the Federal Hall Stands a woman talking to all She says that freedom is for everyone Everyone that walks under the Sun The idea that a corporation Can fight for a nation Is the same as sending one on vacation They are not able To sit down at table To make decisions on their own They can’t even guarantee a loan The lawyer shouts back It’s the facts that you lack A corporation can guarantee a loan To which lady liberty laughs with a groan Leave it to a lawyer to say something so silly Everyone knows there is no guarantee He sat on the sidewalk His back to the wall As he gazed across Wall Street to the hall The sound of tramping feet Sounded like sleet As crowds of brokers and lawyers and bankers Tramped bye He had to look straight up to even see the sky The woman continued Liberty for all Then tumult ensued As the lawyer stood to make a call Come all you bankers and lawyers and judges Come all you Senators and Representative smudges Stand here and be A beacon for the free It’s money that’s real don’t you see? George Washington Stands High above thronging bands With his hand in the air No wind stirs his hair He looks on with dispassionate view As if to say that man is lying to you From history his voice Sounded down stone valley As he freely shared and said, “Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports. In vain would that man claim tribute to patriotism who should labor to subvert these great pillars of human happiness - these firmest props of the duties of men and citizens . . . . reason and experience both forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principles. No corporation attends church No corporation votes No corporation speaks of liberty and freedom They are the bane of all free people everywhere Listen said the woman Standing on the stair Harken to the words of Lincoln I see in the near future a crisis approaching that unnerves me and causes me to tremble for the safety of my country. …corporations have been enthroned and an era of corruption in high places will follow, and the money power of the country will endeavor to prolong its reign by working upon the prejudices of the people until all wealth is aggregated in a few hands and the Republic is destroyed.   You See? In the Sun on the sidewalk I went along with my shadow Though we didn’t make small talk It was nice to have someone at my elbow Though my shadow is good company As my shadow does not talk too much nor too little I would rather have you here with me As you often test my courage and mettle Walking along through the sunlight day All alone but for the few passerby My shadow was active and ready for play Not one to let sleeping dogs lie With my hands in the air My feet on the ground We made quite a pair Though we made no sound People stopped and would stare As I with my shadow would bound Cross some lion’s lair Jump right and turn around As my shadow and I have no care When you are with me We are not just three There is I, my shadow and you And your shadow too You see?   Instead They said it was all fine The things they brought up from the mine They stand in a crowd and stare Looking like they want to get out of there Someone, somewhere, made a mistake Or someone, somewhere, had been told to behave Now derision and anger some take While others scurry their fortunes to save Oh, Niagara Falling down upon my head Oh, Niagara I’d rather other news you brought Instead Some rivers run deep Some rivers run wild Some appear to be fast asleep While some stretch on for miles and miles Out by the Columbia River Nearly two thousand miles away They did things that made strong people shiver They did things they tried to hide away They lit the Earth on fire With flames of flickering blue The burning that never will tire Light that never changes hue They prepared a mighty explosion When they were done they left for wealth and fame Already built a deadly corrosion When told the dangers they laughed just the same Oh, Niagara Falling down upon my head Oh, Niagara I’d rather other news you brought Instead Hiring men who had no idea Of the things they were handling there They paid them and just said, ‘See ya’ As the stumbled off to die somewhere This fire that burns in the Earth It burns through marble and soil This fire of such fabulous worth They value it more than oil But the water was poisoned They must do something Move it away they reasoned Then people will be aware of nothing Oh, Niagara Falling down upon my head Oh, Niagara I’d rather other news you brought Instead To Lewiston, New York they hauled it By the Niagara River it was spread Buried it in a giant pit Whatever was in their empty heads? So now, a hundred years later They carry it over to Michigan They have built a bomb proof crater And quickly commit their sin again Oh, Niagara Falling down upon my head Oh, Niagara I’d rather other news you brought Instead   This Beautiful Sky One year there were one hundred thousand and three hundred and six drug overdoses that resulted in death Just in the United States These are overdoses from illegal drugs or illegally trafficked prescription drugs. From nineteen ninety-nine to the present day the United States has lost over 1 million Americans to drug overdose. How many more do you have to lose? Which one of them all would you choose? To live or die, to laugh or cry To walk away from this beautiful sky? These premature deaths Under such vicious methods impact the family and friends of those who succumb very hard. They have a destabilizing effect on the communities in which they occur. How many more do you have to lose? Which one of them all would you choose? To live or die, to laugh or cry To walk away from this beautiful sky? They cause a lack of confidence in their local governments And services such as medical and police. not because they directly caused these deaths but because it is naturally believed by custom that these organizations are supposed to be trusted with protecting people. How many more do you have to lose? Which one of them all would you choose? To live or die, to laugh or cry To walk away from this beautiful sky? These deaths, though possibly expected after long periods of crisis are nonetheless unexpected and cause a great deal of tumult Some of which can last a lifetime. For those who survive How many more do you have to lose? Which one of them all would you choose? To live or die, to laugh or cry To walk away from this beautiful sky? Doctors are still prescribing opioids at very high rates. The companies that made and distributed pills by the billions have been sued in court but even the worst among them can take the cost of most fines, fees and judgments off of their taxes as a cost of doing business. How many more do you have to lose? Which one of them all would you choose? To live or die, to laugh or cry To walk away from this beautiful sky? Most drug dealers have no idea what they are selling. For the few that do the culpability in these deaths is far greater but ignorance is no excuse for taking advantage of smuggling that ultimately leads to incidents of rape, assault, murder and suicide, don’t you agree? How many more do you have to lose? Which one of them all would you choose? To live or die, to laugh or cry To walk away from this beautiful sky?   Eagles Will Go Near my home is a broad plain Within it is something called a mesic habitat In the science of ecology a mesic habitat Is a type of habitat With a well-balanced or moderate supply of moisture Throughout the growing season It is also referred to as a mesic forest Temperate hardwood forest Or dry-mesic prairie How much land can one corporation take Just to shake And break Tell us then Where will the Eagles go? When there’s nothing left Under the Sun Where will the Eagles go? Out of over twenty three thousand acres of land One acre remains with its hard wood stand Vernal pools rise in the Spring Birds come and flock and fledge and sing Among there in the tightly fit trees There among the flowers and bees A pair of Bald Eagles make their home Swooping low over lake, stream and loam How much land can one corporation take Just to shake And break Tell us then Where will the Eagles go? When there’s nothing left Under the Sun Where will the Eagles go? Very few people live in that place You could walk all day and not see a human face But piled high Up to the sky Are toxins, toxic chemicals, garbage and trash When the fire burns through it turns to ash Millions are paid For the land where the garbage is laid Undisturbed for hundreds of thousands of years Money came along and chased off the deer Turned it into a golf course Cut up the land and worse Then the trash company came Billions of dollars strong Bought up the land and brought toxins along No one played at that golf course, of course Because of the gasses, fires, odors and worse How much land can one corporation take Just to shake And break Tell us then Where will the Eagles go? When there’s nothing left Under the Sun Where will the Eagles go? Now there’s one acre For one pair of Bald Eagles Whose families had nested there For year upon year upon year Now twenty generations Will end with separations As the greedy with grins Complete their real estate fill-ins After the fires the Eagles come to roost Sitting upon ash and poisons Waiting for the vultures and starlings To uncover food The age of discovery now has a new mood How much land can one corporation take Just to shake And break Tell us then Where will the Eagles go? When there’s nothing left Under the Sun Where will the Eagles go? Turn your eyes away Turn them away The Corporation said the Eagles will go Slowly Flashing Light Over on the Boulevard Lights entertain me still Life is often hard When the careless Do what they will Colored lights along the Boulevard Shining bright into the night Reflecting on the rain soaked pavement Showing clear, slowly flashing light Down, down on the Boulevard Beyond the stores By the old rail yard It’s empty dark and lonely It’s cool and cold sometimes at night With only shapes in sight Sounds of shoes on grit Along the roadway flit Click clack until you come back No place to rest or sit Colored lights along the Boulevard Shining bright into the night Reflecting on the rain soaked pavement Showing clear, slowly flashing light Down, down on the Boulevard Anyone can see No one can flee The troubles and problems of day It’s just an attempt that may not pay To loose the yoke and say I’m free, I’m free Free for you and me Colored lights along the Boulevard Shining bright into the night Reflecting on the rain soaked pavement Showing clear, slowly flashing light Down, down on the Boulevard Darkness is final it fills all the night It’s an odd thing to see all the welcoming lights Twinkling and shining in all of their colors In a world of hissing cars The occasional roaring bus How much can I miss us? How much can go wrong? It seemed such a fuss That’s lasted so long Colored lights along the Boulevard Shining bright into the night Reflecting on the rain soaked pavement Showing clear, slowly flashing light Down, down on the Boulevard Turning up my collar As I turn away to go The road that I had followed To escape my sorrow Turning back instead To the night heading towards the day Whatever I was seeking Surely got away Colored lights along the Boulevard Shining bright into the night Reflecting on the rain soaked pavement Showing clear, slowly flashing light Down, down on the Boulevard Down, down on the Boulevard Showing clear, slowly flashing light   What Does It All Mean to Me? Crackling lines Stretched across the Earth Sparkling lines Run under the Sea Competing as if it had some worth Burning up everything that can be It’s called communication On the news and all for fun Talking without reservation About everything under the Sun It’s all afterward After it was done The telling is awkward Under the passing sun Crackling lines Stretched across the Earth Sparkling lines Run under the Sea What does it all mean to me? Sometimes they talk about hunger Sometimes they talk about food Sometimes they are happy and laughing Sometimes they are stuck in a mood Stories about death, life, love and hatred Stories about stealth, strive, wealth being traded Crackling lines Stretched across the Earth Sparkling lines Run under the Sea What does it all mean to me? It was meant to teach everyone everything Now it communicates virtually nothing How much money we spend? Just to reach towards the end? Recently the truth Bubbled up to the top It’s so raw and wrong People just want it to stop Billions are spent on political views Just to pass out ice cream on cues Crackling lines Stretched across the Earth Sparkling lines Run under the Sea What does it all mean to me? Hunger is calling War is roaring Any semblance of order has exited the banks Now the rich who are soaring Put their money in tanks There’s profit to be had When leaders go mad Start burning cities for nothing Then offering contracts To build them up again Crackling lines Stretched across the Earth Sparkling lines Run under the Sea What does it all mean to me?   To the Politburo of China There were trees as far as the eye could see Beyond, beyond they stretched until the axe came Lumbermen sat at their kettles and set flame free When the fires and cutting were done it was all the same Empty and flat and done No one felt they had won, except some The wood went to Chicago, New York, Raleigh and Baltimore When they called for more lumber There was no more So the cutting went West Then came the farmers and they smoothed out the plains They planted the hills and valleys and covered the remains They fed Chicago, New York, Raleigh, Baltimore and the rest As time went by there came a supreme test Should they continue to work or go take a rest? Marshall, Marshall, the Marshall Plan They tore up the farms They tore up the land In Michigan nothing could be finer Than to turn over control To the Politburo of China Then the State Government came around again Things weren’t going fast enough for them They bought up the land to help their friends Bringing the Earth, air and water to no good ends Deciding on development in the great green west They bypassed the cities as they claimed it cost less To build on a green field gifted by Michigan Then to get to work building the cities again There was a small wrinkle as they proceeded along There was a sour note in their money song Tax money was used to build brand new infrastructure Bridges and roads, rails and other structures What? Said the taxpayers, Who are you kidding? Billions of dollars to whom and for what? Meanwhile our existing cities get diddly squat? So the announcements quieted down But they continued to break ground To build a battery factory for a foreign brand To build up the politicians in a foreign land The final factory was to employ many thousands Then many thousands more from vendors and suppliers From looking at the glossies there would be job geysers Marshall, Marshall, the Marshall Plan They tore up the farms They tore up the land In Michigan nothing could be finer Than to turn over control To the Politburo of China The problem, however, was that the jobs created Weren’t the ones that you and I thought slated In order to ensure that supply lines were taught They brought in suppliers from people who fought Liberty and freedom and fair trade at all They were pretending to help When they were just playing ball With the country that causes international disruptions That is loaded with misery, makes war and corruption That didn’t stop the small minded deal makers They went on pretending to be movers and shakers As food prices rocket They bit on a sprocket And think that will make the banks unlock it Now as we see they think it’s for free Tax the people and give it to a friend While they enrich the people who exploit you and me And ensure they own the supply chains in the end After all who are wrapped up in supply chains? Is it the rich and the powerful and the party leaders? Or is the people who suffer heartache and pains Just to make the rich richer and greedier? Marshall, Marshall, the Marshall Plan They tore up the farms They tore up the land In Michigan nothing could be finer Than to turn over control To the Politburo of China Lifts My Spirits Higher Looking for a dream Within a dream Hearing your voice Across the void Lifts my spirits higher Each day is a new and expanding adventure Where I can see anything that I do Is an exciting venture Won’t you come along with me? Looking for a dream Within a dream Hearing your voice Across the void Lifts my spirits higher Days were empty Nights were worse Now my heart is filling With song and verse You are a new world Of expanding domains To lift up my spirit All I need is to hear your name Looking for a dream Within a dream Hearing your voice Across the void Lifts my spirits higher When we’re together I’m happy as can be It’s just that you are with me I hope that you can see Simple touch and smile Lasts me all the while I hope that what I do Is more than for you Looking for a dream Within a dream Hearing your voice Across the void Lifts my spirits higher You deserve the light of day The dream dark of night I love you when you say You’ve got me in your sight Looking for a dream Within a dream Hearing your voice Across the void Lifts my spirits higher   They Were On Their Way We awakened to a new day That wasn’t very bright Some people had been hiding things Just out of our sight The air became polluted So polluted you would cough Until someone said, what is this? Until someone said, enough! It was a wild problem One we couldn’t handle alone So we reached out to our friends And called them on the phone We texted them for help It wasn’t long that we heard back They were on their way! The gasses are invisible They have so many names They are so strange Each one seems a riddle Some, though, have an odor So when we found one We knew we could find more It was a wild problem One we couldn’t handle alone So we reached out to our friends And called them on the phone We texted them for help It wasn’t long we heard back They were on their way! The things in the water They dissolved and disappeared There was no way To tell that they were there Unless we used science So we didn’t need to look everywhere It was a wild problem One we couldn’t handle alone So we reached out to our friends And called them on the phone We texted them for help It wasn’t long we heard back They were on their way! Using our books, cell phones and more We went out into the forest And checked out the dirt Now we are in it We are cleaning the Earth! It was a wild problem One we couldn’t handle alone So we reached out to our friends And called them on the phone We texted them for help It wasn’t long we heard back They were on their way! We aren’t ask why they did it It’s all clear They didn’t care Maybe they didn’t understand But it’s not for us to say We will use our minds and strength To find it, clean it Do it all the right way It was a wild problem One we couldn’t handle alone So we reached out to our friends And called them on the phone We texted them for help It wasn’t long we heard back They were on their way!   Is The American Condition Helping is not just a word Assisting is not just something to do Giving a hand up Is an American tradition Helping each other Is the American condition The price of food is going up Wages going down Profits are out of site For those who think they own the town If we work together We can make it all come right If we fall out with each other They will bring down the light Helping is not just a word Assisting is not just something to do Giving a hand up Is an American tradition Helping each other Is the American condition When I was a little boy I was told to get with it If I worked it all alone There was no way I would hit it So we all worked together To build new things right Then things started getting better It was out of sight Helping is not just a word Assisting is not just something to do Giving a hand up Is an American tradition Helping each other Is the American condition People are going hungry It’s not funny at all If one of us is hungry It’s coming to us all If one of us can’t work They’ll pull us with a jerk We’ve got to stick together Or this isn’t gonna’ work Helping is not just a word Assisting is not just something to do Giving a hand up Is an American tradition Helping each other Is the American condition Driving, building, selling, creating Moving, Warehousing, cooking and smelting How many jobs can you imagine now That used to be commonplace Now no one knows how They thought that they were clever Outsource it to the world How can things get better? If we don’t have food and board? Helping is not just a word Assisting is not just something to do Giving a hand up Is an American tradition Helping each other Is the American condition The jobs need to come back Not just in a plastic sack There’s not enough money To pay without payback Figure it this way If all you do is pay, pay, pay Never mind what does that leave you Where does it come from I would say Helping is not just a word Assisting is not just something to do Giving a hand up Is an American tradition Helping each other Is the American condition So now we go together Into the great unknown Where people once made steel They can’t afford a broom They are forced to live In a single little room To have towns living From hand to mouth each day Something’s got to change It can’t go on this way Helping is not just a word Assisting is not just something to do Giving a hand up Is an American tradition Helping each other Is the American condition   On Your Track Was a time when we were all alright We had each other’s back Kept each other in our sight Now it’s a different world All torn, broken and spoiled If you’re not happy now Just remember what I’ve got smoking Think I’ll call me a lawyer Get one down on your back Think I’ll get me a lawyer Teach you to stay on your track Having a little discussion Someone gets to rushing A disagreement rises up Just who is that dog’s pup I bought it from you You bought it from me I’ll sue your house from under you To get a hold of that little puppy Think I’ll call me a lawyer Get one down on your back Think I’ll get me a lawyer Teach you to stay on your track Now there’s a construction tiff Someone thinks they’re about to get stiffed So they sit down and talk a while Renegotiate with a smile Till one or the other takes a fright Now they’re about to have a fight When one calls out in the tumult The modern day’s banker insult Think I’ll call me a lawyer Get one down on your back Think I’ll get me a lawyer Teach you to stay on your track Then a man finds out His wife died of cancer about Two years ago It was fast in the end But it happened real slow So he turns to the law To get some justice There’s no one now Who’ll say they saw The company dump poison down In the river and around all the lake They threaten the widower Again and again What do you think you’re going to gain? If you sue us now we’ll just complain Think I’ll call me a lawyer Get one down on your back Think I’ll get me a lawyer Teach you to stay on your track The judge and the jury sit right down Out comes the chemist Out comes the clown Everyone is fine with it All through the town Where else can you get work? Do you want to shut them down? Think I’ll call me a lawyer Get one down on your back Think I’ll get me a lawyer Teach you to stay on your track Keep you, keep you On your track!   While We Wait They say that fools rush in Where angels fear to tread I know I’d do it again Without thought or dread How can someone know Who has not gone so far To discover when they are low They can still reach the bar When you’re pursued by tigers Through a wilderness of fear It takes more than luck To keep what you hold dear In the audience of demons Danger of failure lurks about Some people lose their reason Try to find some way out With you here beside me I see the true way’s passage With your love here to guide me I receive the true word’s message Even on the pleasantest of days Overwhelming odds can swell Pushed in the Ocean past quays Far beyond the warning bell Still you touch ignites me Your love like a firm tree stands My hope is you that I can see When I return from these strange lands I recall the look on your face Your dear visage turned to the sky Across the worlds I trace My track to you and I Now I am pressed from all sides What next will become of me Beyond gray sky slides The Sun easing into the Sea The world turns to East Stars rise in the heavens Foes at hand I worry with least While hold dear your love’s expressions They don’t want to see these lives entwined So they gather at the gates Beyond their ken is love enshrined While we wait to see refined our fates   When the Song of Sadness Lingers Do you see it? Can you see it? Can you see it with your eyes? Do you hear it? Can you hear it? Can you hear it with your ears? Can you touch it? Can you touch it with your fingers? Can you feel it? Can you feel it with your heart? When the song of sadness lingers? Suicidal ideation is when you think about killing yourself. The thoughts might or might not include a plan to die by suicide. They can certainly consume the self Do you see it? Can you see it? Can you see it with your eyes? Do you hear it? Can you hear it? Can you hear it with your ears? Can you touch it? Can you touch it with your fingers? Can you feel it? Can you feel it with your heart? When the song of sadness lingers? You may have heard suicidal ideation referred to as “suicidal thoughts.” Not everyone with suicidal ideation Continues along and acts on it. But if you or a loved one has it you should get help right away. Do you see it? Can you see it? Can you see it with your eyes? Do you hear it? Can you hear it? Can you hear it with your ears? Can you touch it? Can you touch it with your fingers? Can you feel it? Can you feel it with your heart? When the song of sadness lingers? What should you Do if You Experience Suicidal Ideation? You could reach out You should reach out I want you to reach out, please To A family member or friend To A crisis counselor on the phone A doctor or therapist through the internet A spiritual leader you can choose on your own An Online support group You can Text even now Text HOME to 7 4 1 7 4 1 to reach a crisis counselor 9 8 8 just call 9 8 8 just call 9 8 8 to assistance and aid If you’ve attempted suicide and you’re injured call 911. If you’re not alone, ask someone else to do it. Ask someone else to do it Ask someone else for help If you’re about to harm yourself, you should: Call 911. Call or text 988, the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline. You can also chat online using 988lifeline dot org slash chat To speak to someone in Spanish, call 988 and press 2. U.S. veterans or service members can call 988 then press 1, or text 8 3 8 2 5 5. To chat, go to veteranscrisisline dot net slash get-help-now chat Do you see it? Can you see it? Can you see it with your eyes? Do you hear it? Can you hear it? Can you hear it with your ears? Can you touch it? Can you touch it with your fingers? Can you feel it? Can you feel it with your heart? When the song of sadness lingers?   It Goes On and On Oh, no! The word comes down We’ve got an uptick in numbers From sixteen point four in 2001 It’s climbed to sixteen point seven Good thing they’ll all go to heaven The headlines are mute They think it’s all cute Some old guy is running for office How does that suffice? As our blood turns to ice Seventeen soldiers a day Take their lives in suicide Why do they do it? Why won’t they say why they do it? There’s other things More important on T V Who caught the ball? Who took the fall? Who robbed the bank in Worthall? It really doesn’t matter That at halftime a clatter Was heard from the room down the hall The numbers clear That in the U S A here Veterans are four times more likely To die by their own hand Than from that of the enemy Suicide levels are four times as high As straight out death in combat When some come home The fight just begins That’s what I’m trying to get at No one talks about Hercules Taking his ease After he’s completed enormous labors Same as with these No one says please Can you tell all about what you’re feeling Even in special debriefing When they tell their stories They are warned not to talk About it in passing There’s some old lie That can force any guy To believe that these memories aren’t lasting After all, it’s important To the military arms That the men and women Go on combating Who would still do it If they knew it was permanent That they could never go back And undo it You see they don’t show the combatants When they return from the action They don’t talk about wounds or the sorrow It’s best they don’t mention it all Else they ruin the ratings tomorrow So the men and women go home Maybe with one or more missing bones Having lost a limb here or there Some have lost eyesight Can no longer see Or their bodies have been scarred permanently In our modern life It’s more common strife To talk about the fate of a chicken Taken from barnyard to modern machine To be turned into Sunday’s dinner But no one mentions the even wilder machines Intended to render human skeletons clean Some go further Turn bodies to burger The survivor stands by all alone They can fight and live on Or just turn around and go home If that happens a shower of shame Is let down upon them by command By women and men Who stand in a tent Looking at maps on a laptop Casualty numbers you probably don’t know Because they suppressed at the get-go During World War 1 while the soldiers fought on They treated the whole thing like a show It was more than a year Before they admitted my dear That anyone had died let alone cried So now in America Our soldiers are falling By their steady or trembling hands By a gun or a pill or a jump or a knife They do what they do to end their life It’s what they see It’s what they do It’s what they’ve seen done You see That can drive a person To turn on themselves Some think when the announcement comes The war is all done But the truth is It goes on and on   Green Made of Paper There are many people in the world Seeking out the dollar They want it for everything If they don’t get it they holler Everyone accepts the dollar Everyone trades in dollars It was the solution to the money problem After World War 2 when all the money Was gone All the money was gone All the money was gone with the bomb That blew a hole in the world That burned down cities The dollar rose up Over Hiroshima, Nagasaki and Dresden Green carpeted the world Green made of paper Then it changed it changed over To credit and figures Mathematical equations Providing descriptions Without descriptions they just made them up If you wanted more you had to sign up The Federal Reserve, the World Bank The World Economic Forum Now it’s not a choice Pay in dollars, buy in dollars Borrow in dollars, Collect in Dollars All the money was gone All the money was gone with the bomb That blew a hole in the world That burned down cities The dollar rose up Over Hiroshima, Nagasaki and Dresden Green carpeted the world Green made of paper Some people are asking What is the reason For trading in dollars each season? We have trading partners We don’t need the dollars What is the reason for keeping them Comes the response Level headed and clear It’s all about credit, credit and dollars Do you hear? Then it starts rolling out It’s the system established Now you must pay There’s nothing you can do Nothing you can say Just pay in dollars Pay, pay, pay, pay Then it turns into a shout If you don’t pay in dollars People will lose their confidence It will all go wrong They will all cross the fence People will flee, don’t you see From you and from me To find a new world Where the dollar is free All the money was gone All the money was gone with the bomb That blew a hole in the world That burned down cities The dollar rose up Over Hiroshima, Nagasaki and Dresden Green carpeted the world Green made of paper What? You might say, is this madness spewed out Now it gets weird as they start to shout You’ve hit a cord, a basic creed It’s the idea that grew from that original seed If you don’t use the dollar you see What will you get? Global instability! If you get away you’ll have your own say Then you’ll have to feed your own people Not buy our food Nor our cars or weapons or airplanes Where do you think that will get you? All down the drain! Protests and revolutions will start Everywhere, everywhere! We can’t let that start These debtor nations can’t do what we do We are the ones who make all the shoes What will we do if you take care of you? So beware of this thought It’s good food you’ve bought There won’t be anymore if you abandon the dollar We have all the bombs and the tanks and the collars Just stop it now or we’ll fix you but good The rest of the was not in the mood They turned away from the dollar that day Now they raise their own food And the murderers have all gone away All the money was gone All the money was gone with the bomb That blew a hole in the world That burned down cities The dollar rose up Over Hiroshima, Nagasaki and Dresden Green carpeted the world Green made of paper   Were They The Best? Some people like trains They like to hear them roll on by To hear their lonesome nighttime cry Some people like trains Just they way they were But they’ve changed and changed again They don’t carry people anymore Just grain and oil and goods Going from shore to shore They said that switching over from coal to diesel Was better for everyone but not if you breathe it There was a time in America When we could look out and cry There goes the Detroit Flyer Heading off to the mighty west Those days are gone Will someone say they were the best? Now the rails are broken down and blue They tear them up and put them down all new Every carriage they carry over here Comes from Seattle, New York or Baltimore Carrying clothes, paint, wood and chemicals Food and plastic and garbage that smells There’s no work coming in on the train No work coming by just stay in from the rain There was a time in America When we could look out and cry There goes the Detroit Flyer Heading off to the mighty west Those days are gone Will someone say they were the best? A railroad car tips over In New Palestine Pennsylvania So the Governors of Michigan and Ohio Put their heads together Just shovel it up and move it along Michigan will take it You can dump it for a song To dump garbage and nuclear waste in Ohio In New York, New Jersey and Wisconsin Could cost eight six dollars per ton or more But in Michigan it costs thirty six cents There was a time in America When we could look out and cry There goes the Detroit Flyer Heading off to the mighty west Those days are gone Will someone say they were the best? Then people in New York Found radioactive material buried there Burning its way to the Niagara River So they dug it up and sent it over here To Michigan, the land of landfill To Michigan, once a beautiful place to be Then the political families Three generations deep Decided they knew better and decided to sweep This poison underneath our Earth This poison they put under the dirt There was a time in America When we could look out and cry There goes the Detroit Flyer Heading off to the mighty west Those days are gone Will someone say they were the best? They say they are political parties The Governor belongs to one Shows up once in a while in a helicopter Then goes off to talk in Washington Her supposed political opponent Doesn’t even speak English properly Did he buy his Ambassadorship with money Or did he really get it for free? He was an Ambassador from the Netherlands Where is that? Look on both hands He speaks Dutch we know that now Kind of late, it’s been thirty years anyhow There was a time in America When we could look out and cry There goes the Detroit Flyer Heading off to the mighty west Those days are gone Will someone say they were the best?   Round and Round and Round It’s been a while since I last saw you Sometime before Covid hit Now you’ve come out again Taken a look at it The world is still pretty as can be During the time we’ve been in caves We realized they treated us like slaves Having to drive a car an hour more Can surely make a homebody feel sore Now you’ve got to buy a car they said You’ll know why if you only use your head But still taking twenty hours a week To sit alone in one little seat While driving two tons of metal and plastic Just to make someone’s promises stick Doesn’t make much sense to me Now I think you surely see Your life is to short to pass Or offer it up for a tank of gas We can reappropriate our lives We don’t have to follow the signs It’s a round, round world we live But it’s a fact that we don’t have to give in Just because the world is round Doesn’t mean we have to circle Round and round and round Yesterday I said, ‘Let’s have a party’ Someone said, ‘Oh, no, Covid’s still out there’ So they hide inside From all the fresh air Missing the rising tide A woman told me just last week She had herself a future peek She worked in an office with a manager Who she was sure was a leader of renown She asked him how he did it He asked her what and he said he didn’t He showed her a program he had written With the knowledge he had collected In a computer that sat on his desk each day She wished it would just go away He said he wrote that program He showed it to her and said It counts each second and minute Each hour, each day and each year It’s counting the days till I retire Then I can begin really living that year So she turned from that place and went To work in the world for her rent She found a way to get rich Get rich she did Then she spent it all trying to build A house that would resemble Versailles She thinks that she escaped the fate Of the man who chose to sit and wait But the time came around Her wealth went aground Now she’s disappeared along with her mate I know this all because they played it on television In the past people would have looked with derision But today, you see, it’s just on T V So they pay their monthly bill and change the channel We can reappropriate our lives We don’t have to follow the signs It’s a round, round world we live But it’s a fact that we don’t have to give in Just because the world is round Doesn’t mean we have to circle Round and round and round   Before Money Takes It Away When you see an Eagle spread its wings You can think about better things There’s freedom and liberty All the good things for you and me Some people want to spoil it Set it all aside and destroy it It’s up to you and I to preserve it Before the money takes it away There is a Mesic Plain near my home Covered over with three hundred feet of filth Don’t know how this all came to be I was told it was because of choices Made long, long ago Choices turned into laws That can’t be broken or changed Not even to the Supreme Court Nothing can be rearranged They said things like this has to go somewhere No one else will deal with it here Then they pack up their money in bags Drive off to drink down some beer While we are left with red dust in the wind While we suffer for all of their sin The stench of the foul weather coming Has destroyed the joy of the Summer When you see an Eagle spread its wings You can think about better things There’s freedom and liberty All the good things for you and me Some people want to spoil it Set it all aside and destroy it It’s up to you and I to preserve it Before the money takes it away So they decide by rote and by column Which community will be swallowed Under plastic and P V C and rubber Exposed to P F A S and PCB Going home to their family and pets They forget about all the rest Terminating races of creatures That have lived for hundreds of thousands of years Fresh water now is all poisoned It will take generations to correct it They tell us it’s all based on science That’s why they carefully designed The landfill to look like a bathtub When you see an Eagle spread its wings You can think about better things There’s freedom and liberty All the good things for you and me Some people want to spoil it Set it all aside and destroy it It’s up to you and I to preserve it Before the money takes it away So the Bald Eagles will die A pair that did try To make a new family here Descended from families uncounted There bodies won’t even be mounted Just crushed under foot and by tread The monstrous bulldozers will make them dead As the children play across the street Carcasses of chickens and cows and sheep Are spewed out their blood poured on the ground No offering to God right here Just the bloody destruction of deer The devil looks over it all Spreads cancer with a filth caul What will be birthed here from this place Will be nothing with a human face Rotting and stinking and burning Where once young hearts were filled with yearning When you see an Eagle spread its wings You can think about better things There’s freedom and liberty All the good things for you and me Some people want to spoil it Set it all aside and destroy it It’s up to you and I to preserve it Before the money takes it away Say thank you to E G L E All their money, money, money Say thank you to Van Buren Charter Township Charter Townships are how rackets are founded Now when we look all around us See the families starting to flee See the lost that could have been a baby Tossed because of birth defects As cancer consumes everyone’s effects Those in power stand and cower Before the rage of the monied corporations Intent on some horrific revenge That comes from their own gyrations One day they will all be gone Not too soon say the people they hurt But before they go Dance to their graves They will have one more violence to show Symbols of American freedom Cast down, down into the soil of doom By men and women whom Count money more important than life When you see an Eagle spread its wings You can think about better things There’s freedom and liberty All the good things for you and me Some people want to spoil it Set it all aside and destroy it It’s up to you and I to preserve it Before the money takes it away   When All You Have Is A Fiddle It’s hard to follow Us Versus Them When you’re stuck in the middle It all started out pretty small and pretty simple The rich folks wanted a garbage dump placed So they found some empty farmland between us and them They called it a landfill rather than a dump Because it sounds more appealing than to call it a dump But a dump is what it was and a dump is what it is They piled up their trash in little hills Then came the taxes and the bills Now they didn’t want to pay that They said, ‘You didn’t say that.’ They wanted it all for free you see So they want to talk to the company The company said we can do that for free For you, that is, everyone else pays money So the rich folks were fine They sat down to sign A document called Us Versus Them It’s hard to follow Us Versus Them When you’re stuck in the middle When they’ve got money And all you have is a fiddle So they went out for contracts And the trash it did come back In many thousands and millions of tons The owners were laughing The rich folks had fun They built a big splashpad The parents were all glad But it was downwind from the dump So they decided to go elsewhere for fun They built a frisbee course With only one hole of course Bragged about it for a week in some rag They put up two goals On a field full of grass And named it the Van Buren Charter Township Soccer Stadium and Exercise Field It’s hard to follow Us Versus Them When you’re stuck in the middle When they’ve got money And all you have is a fiddle Every once in while the trash it caught fire But if you say so they’ll call you a liar Red dust rises up and blows into houses real nice Everyone gets covered, children and mothers My goodness there’s even red mice! Their prices were great So they brought trash in by freight From a hundred miles away and more It got even worse as the imported the curse From Canada and even the Eastern Seaboard Michigan became known As the Trash Garden Home For anyone looking to dump No one notice when the poison arrived in their sump Strange odors and smokes Raised up through the sky All the animals went up and died Now the last Eagle pair Well, they don’t care Next year their home gets bulldozed to clay The only eagle they see Is the one on money To these folks national symbols are trash They just want the cold hard cash It’s hard to follow Us Versus Them When you’re stuck in the middle When they’ve got money And all you have is a fiddle So we have a cancer epidemic People are getting real sick But the contracts are all signed and sealed They wonder why folks are complaining As they bury their kin Or pay through the nose for medical care Some people believe them and think it is fair Corporations have a right to exist If people get in the way They’ll just have to pay If they also want to persist It’s hard to follow Us Versus Them When you’re stuck in the middle When they’ve got money And all you have is a fiddle The positions these people take are a riddle It’s hard to follow Us Versus Them When you’re stuck in the middle When they’ve got money And all you have is a fiddle   Money Strapped To Your Shoe We used to be a mobile people Moving around from steeple to steeple If work ran out over here You just packed up and ran over there It could be a little disorienting But in a big country it’s not too bad Better than sticking around wanting You end up that way very sad Now though it seems There aren’t anymore dreams There no place to go Nothing to do Unless you’ve got money strapped to your shoe When the factories all closed down You would have thought it brought death to the town But most people all stuck around To see what was next going down Turned out nothing was coming But new cars, Teevees and money For everyone but those who needed it If you want a job go and look for it They still didn’t show The manufacturing got up and go Moved their production to old Mexico Left us all holding the bill Now though it seems There aren’t anymore dreams There no place to go Nothing to do Unless you’ve got money strapped to your shoe Then the tide started turning somewhere They must have told them to go over there It’s safe and it’s quiet And you just might Find a job or a house over there So they trickled at first Then the dam burst And the entered by millions and millions Still the businesses pressed No land costs redressed Driving the farmers from their lands Breaking up all the fruit stands Firing guns into crowds You know they can be loud When their held in a soldier’s hands The people didn’t know what to do So out of their countries they flew To the one place they trusted as safe That would be the United States Now though it seems There aren’t anymore dreams There no place to go Nothing to do Unless you’ve got money strapped to your shoe Little did they know, though That all of the dough Had been confiscated and removed By a very strange brood Of bankers, investors and fabricators Who wearing the mantle of honesty Had all become deep seated cheaters So when the people arrived They were glad they were alive But the streets are not paved with gold And people are all bought and sold The jobs they found were gone To the places they left beyond The horizon they had passed just back Now the work they sought they lack Now though it seems There aren’t anymore dreams There no place to go Nothing to do Unless you’ve got money strapped to your shoe Some people cry outside in the streets They take your jobs so they can eat How can that make anyone feel better When in the winter they can’t afford a sweater There was a time when the world looked fine There was always a little more time Now the land has been bought through crime There’s no new farmers towing the line They have grown fat and lazy you see As they employ the employee Their hands out for hand outs That are paid off by you and me Corporations have scattered Taken up all that mattered They use words like love, hope and fame While they smear the world with a stain Of greed, malfeasance and ineptitude I can’t think of the last time they did any good Showing four billionaires walking in the vacuum of space Is like taking a stick and smacking your face When you can count the minutes and seconds When you’ll run out of money again Now though it seems There aren’t anymore dreams There no place to go Nothing to do Unless you’ve got money strapped to your shoe   Whatcha' Gonna' Do Today? Eighteen a day That's what they say He was eighteen years old When he signed his life away Whatcha' gonna' do today? Just give your life away? To someone who doesn't even know How to live their's? Whatcha' gonna' do today? When he took all his freedom Tied it to a flag Now he's in a body bag Like seventeen others Whatcha' gonna' do today? Just give your life away? To someone who doesn't even know How to live their's? Whatcha' gonna' do today? Most people don't bother To pay attention At military career retention Just who sticks around And who is ground out You know it's not the one found out Whatcha' gonna' do today? Just give your life away? To someone who doesn't even know How to live their's? Whatcha' gonna' do today? He sat in his house With a gun in his mouth Blew his head right away If only he knew He could reach out to you Maybe it wouldn't have Turned out this way Whatcha' gonna' do today? Just give your life away? To someone who doesn't even know How to live their's? Whatcha' gonna' do today?   Sharing This Lifeline When I met you I was empty Now my life is filled with plenty Family and friends and songs I never knew it could be so good I love to see you in the daytime I live to see you in the nighttime Reaching out to you And sharing this lifeline With you my side I’ve walked the world wide Went from mountain to ocean And back again I love to see you in the daytime I live to see you in the nighttime Reaching out to you And sharing this lifeline We have such wonderful children They are doing so well then Each moment that passes I bless that I share them with you I love to see you in the daytime I live to see you in the nighttime Reaching out to you And sharing this lifeline Each day in the morning There be just more longing For all the wonderful things We don’t seem to have time to do Because all of the time is spent Living a wonderful life with you I love to see you in the daytime I live to see you in the nighttime Reaching out to you And sharing this lifeline   Looking For You Walking down by the fountain In the shadow of the mountain I knew I’d be looking for you No matter how much time goes by I’ll be out here looking for you I’ve swam in the Ocean Walked on the Sea Returned through the valley Seen the rays through the trees Smoke hanging dense Along the stockyard fence The rumble of trucks in the back I knew I’d be looking for you No matter how much time goes by I’ll be out here looking for you Working on the track on the high beam Walking the steel or raising a scene Quiet as silent Or loud as a bell I’ve looked in a canyon Gave you a yell But all that came back Was my only lonely voice Can’t tell if this all Was once my only choice I knew I’d be looking for you No matter how much time goes by I’ll be out here looking for you The world is a beauty As far as the eye can see The scents are mysterious The sensations comforting But without someone beside me It’s all just a dream If only I’d dreamed What could have been I knew I’d be looking for you No matter how much time goes by I’ll be out here looking for you I’ll be out here looking for you Looking for you   It’s Another Chance to Play This Old Man, he played One He played Knick-Knack on the Sun With a Knick-Knack Paddywack Give the dog a Bone This old man came rolling home This Old Man, he played Two He played Knick-Knack on the Moon With a Knick-Knack Paddywack Give the dog a Bone This old man came rolling home This Old Man, he played Three He played Knick-Knack on the Sea With a Knick-Knack Paddywack Give the dog a Bone This old man came rolling home This Old Man, he played Four He played Knick-Knack on the Shore With a Knick-Knack Paddywack Give the dog a Bone This old man came rolling home This Old Man, he played Five He played Knick-Knack on a Hive With a Knick-Knack Paddywack Give the dog a Bone This old man came rolling home This Old Man, he played Six He played Knick-Knack with the Sticks With a Knick-Knack Paddywack Give the dog a Bone This old man came rolling home This Old Man, he played Seven He played Knick-Knack in the Heavens With a Knick-Knack Paddywack Give the dog a Bone This old man came rolling home This Old Man, he played Eight He played Knick-Knack on the Gate With a Knick-Knack Paddywack Give the dog a Bone This old man came rolling home This Old Man, he played Nine He played Knick-Knack really fine With a Knick-Knack Paddywack Give the dog a Bone This old man came rolling home This Old Man, he played Ten He played Knick-Knack over again With a Knick-Knack Paddywack Give the dog a Bone This old man came rolling home Coming out of the night I can see the light No more howling at the moon Now that I’ve found you I can astound you Lead you into the day It doesn’t matter what went down It’s another chance to play You Are My Very Last Chance I want to live with you Breath with you Listen to you Your song, Your song, Your dance, Your dance You are my very last chance It’s been a long broken time Dark skies in the day light passing Cloudy nights and misty lights Colored all green and blue Until I met you I saw you Dancing in the waves I knew than It was possible That I could be saved I want to live with you Breath with you Listen to you Your song, Your song, Your dance, Your dance You are my very last chance Now I’m standing on the edge of my life Waiting for another go The possibility to end this strife I know it and I can let go Running down to the river To see what water roll on That’s when I knew I loved you And we would go on and on I want to live with you Breath with you Listen to you Your song, Your song, Your dance, Your dance You are my very last chance   That’s All We Can See Out in the Ocean Away from the Sound In the deepening, deepening waters Whales are around In those deep depths Whales once abounded Now they are few and we are many Yet no one is astounded Ocean so far from me They call you the waters They call you the Sea Your children they took From you and from me It’s all in a book That’s all we can see We know the names Of the might whale towns How they sought out fame Or at least a job Captains made plenty Companies made more As for the sailors They might as well stayed ashore But there was no work there All the fields they were empty There were no libraries or hospitals But lots of cemeteries So they went to the Sea Where others made a great story About how they went aground Or ended their lives in glory Being struck down by lightning or wave It was entertainment How whalers went to their grave Ocean so far from me They call you the waters They call you the Sea Your children they took From you and from me It’s all in a book That’s all we can see Now they took in the whales From all around the world There wasn’t a civilized nation With flags unfurled That did not send ships Out to find Leviathan To carve them all up Then after five years Come back again With barrels filled up With whale oil rendered So people could light lamps Smooth thread And other strange things Ocean so far from me They call you the waters They call you the Sea Your children they took From you and from me It’s all in a book That’s all we can see Then the oil was found That came out of the ground But the whalers kept whaling Seeking the sound Of the singing creatures The size of a mound They knew nothing else So they continued to hound The creatures whose travels Were globally bound Now many are extinct They’ve gone from the Earth No more to return No more give birth Even the greatest of creatures Has the smallest of numbers The richest of humans Think nothing at all That one of their ships Would kill them all By just heading straight on Without concern For all of the creatures In front of their bows Ocean so far from me They call you the waters They call you the Sea Your children they took From you and from me It’s all in a book That’s all we can see What is the reason for plastics From lands I can’t see Do we need all these strange things Carried on the sea? Isn’t there a time think and stop If we tell them there is They say there is not These are the new born whalers of old They’ve sold their souls for silver and gold As the Earth becomes quieter And filled with dread It’s a sorry reminder The whales are all dead Ocean so far from me They call you the waters They call you the Sea Your children they took From you and from me It’s all in a book That’s all we can see   God’s Face There are billions of stars in the sky Many more than we can see with our eye Many more than we can with telescopes Many more than we can even imagine Our computers and machines Cannot fathom Even the simplest counting of stars Would take eons for them to get very far Black holes and vacuums Asteroids made of glass Some planets with ice mountains Others just made of gas With temperatures beyond comprehending Seem to have existed all without ending Yet we are told sure and true The exact number is known now too Give or take two billion years We know it now and can rest our fears I never feared the age of the Universe Yet I question the idea of these years For they started with thirteen point eight Now some say twenty-six point seven Is the time it took to make heaven They changed it you see Because they found at least three Stars that were older than that The new number is the hope That they will keep it in scope And they can on with their fantasy That there was nothing Then there was something With not reason nor meaning at all In short, they’ve decided To let someone else take the fall Slowly, slowly, maybe They have knowledge it seems That they feed to you and me It is easy to fool even very smart folks If there is no real answer at all They simply ask you to agree To believe them and that’s all you see So the wonders of the Universe unbounded Of which in this world we are surrounded Are broken down by a few As a job that they do Without regard for what we see With no attachment to what we all know Of course the Universe will continue to grow As we look farther the maps will expand There are more stars and worlds Than ever there have been grains of sand One day we will walk upon foreign worlds We will see silent stars, invisible whirls Powers beyond our ability to see Beyond that again, again, again For all eternity Should we falter And lose our halter We will arc through this fabulous place Filled all with glory As we seek to gaze upon God’s face So Be Sure Look at the Earth Land of your birth You won’t get another This is the one that you have Even if someone should fly far To the Moon, Venus or Mars It is unlikely that you will go The question becomes then so What is the reason you allow Others to destroy your air Your Water Your Earth? What do you think You will leave of value To you children or others you love? Do you think that a world Where you can’t breathe air Drink water or walk barefoot Is a good thing to have? Do you believe they will thank you When the look at the paintings of old When they look at the pictures Of all the things that were sold Struck down from the face of the Earth Do you think they will understand When all they inherit is sand? Visit any Zoo Any Zoo you care to at all They are filled with creatures That are facing Their last chance at life in this place How it got like this is of no concern When you find a fire you put it out Then you look for the reason it started to burn Look at the things that are happening Wars and pestilence are two These are the ones used to frighten you There are other more dire Things at hand that are the fire Here, I will tell them to you It up to you to find something to do In the far off countries Where rich people like to fly to Where they lay on the beach Just out of reach of the poverty, ignorance and violence The lands are dying from thirst While in others the dams are near burst The people there don’t know how to fix them They were built to bring electricity But for what? They can hardly afford clothes The work that they do is for you In sweatshops and dirty factories Built up on farms and in forests In jungles they chop down the trees The people have no way to heat their house They have no way to cook their food The companies that go there open a store That’s right, it’s a company store They say they’re the richest on the planet Mighty and strong and free But when the people there rightly rise up These maniacs turn to you and me They take up taxes and buy more axes They go cut down more trees So their firebases, airports and taxis Destroy what people go there to see It can’t last forever that’s true Now it must be clear even to you You can’t have others work for you Then pay them with what? If you have no jobs and no future While riches for some are sure The balance can’t stay that way Eventually, read the history They will want you to go away So they will try to make you go away They will succeed for a while With their merry smile Till the tide turns against for sure The world will not wait To come and take What was taken from them so be sure   Thirty Five Years Thirty five years is a long time For such short lives Thirty five years full of love and rhyme For such a family shines Who would cut that short For a few dollars more? There are Bald Eagles Finally coming back to us Destroyed by chicken farmers Strange people who fuss Don’t forget the DDT Which still effects you and me There are Bald Eagles Finally coming back to us Thirty five years is a long time For such short lives Thirty five years full of love and rhyme For such a family shines Who would cut that short For a few dollars more? When Bald Eagles pair up they do so for life Come what may be it good or for strife Building a nest they call home Some by season will roam Then return back to their very own forest Carry on in their familial nest Thirty five years is a long time For such short lives Thirty five years full of love and rhyme For such a family shines Who would cut that short For a few dollars more? In Michigan you see life comes second It’s always money that surely will beckon The greed and unthoughtful Believe destruction is bountiful They go around destroying the world Pulling down trees and filling in lakes They call it filling in as they scrape it all down What’s created doesn’t look like a town Thirty five years is a long time For such short lives Thirty five years full of love and rhyme For such a family shines Who would cut that short For a few dollars more? There’s a sentence they say As they take it away This stuff has to go somewhere What they refer to is The waste management biz That made a commodity of garbage As they sit and stuff their faces They destroy pristine places That we need for fresh water and air It’s clear that they just don’t care They pile it here and they pile it there It soaks through the soil like a boil Until it’s in the water, air and Earth They put out promissory notes for worth   The Enemy of Every Boy and Girl Nothing will change What they are doing is strange Unless its brought to a stop once for all The politicians are laughing and having a ball It’s not their fault they say It’s not like we’re building a wall But it’s a wall for sure Separating the rich from the poor The joke is on them Made by the wind Still we think it sad It has come to their very Thirty five years is a long time For such short lives Thirty five years full of love and rhyme For such a family shines Who would cut that short For a few dollars more? Gonna’ take a walk around my neighborhood Hey! Everything is doing good Bright shiny morning ahead of me I’ll got out and see what I can see Across the street in a little ditch Is a mark of tar and a little pitch Something coming up from the soil underground Floats on the water and floats all around Then I walk a little further then Going to pass by the fence Of the furious automaker They put out a robot It’s a regular haymaker If it sees you or senses you Out comes a horn Supposed to make you feel Like you should never’ve been born Then comes a loud voice Screaming from the speaker You are on Private Property The Police have been notified It shouts it out again and again It supposed to teach you a lesson Don’t walk in the road Avoid the sidewalk Don’t walk at all Just remain alone at home Across the street From that wonderful treat Is leaking chemicals from the soil Don’t know what it is But looks like gas residue and oil Never dries up even the hottest of days Never freezes up even the coldest of nights We’ll leave it right there to take in more sights There is a rectangular building With a sign on its side Beware, Beware, Beware Isocyanates inside They make truck bed liners there You’d know what they were If you had five thousand extra To drop on pickup truck toy Go a little farther and now you’ve arrived Where the gasses are burned Burned up alive They come from the landfill The extract the methane Everything else is burned with a flame Heavy metals and volatile organic compounds The stuff that gives you cancer Just like it sounds Turn to the left There’s an abandoned auto dump They just graded over its viscous sump Stinking like diesel dust rises in the air Here comes the inspectors Don’t think that they care The muck is draining all down in the ditch It’ll be in the river in no time lickety split Now turn to the right See what’s blocking the light? That’s a garbage dump landfill Megalandfill that’s right Filled with all sorts of things That just ain’t right If you think you live in the modern day future Just stop these landfills and I’m pretty sure You’ll find yourself finding it hard to explain How they do something in public that so full of shame They poison the air, water and soil With all sorts of chemicals, fibers and coils The piles grow and grow and so does their money Mounting healthcare costs are just not so funny When a child is wheezing and coughing and hacking It’s a wonder they could get financial backing But the statistics say that some must die Might as well be the elderly and children Who live nearby After all they deserve it don’t they? If they hadn’t have moved there They wouldn’t be in the way So quietly, quietly, see over there They bury the people the rich cannot bear Don’t ask if it’s okay Or ask if it’s fair They are not concerned about their actions Nor their effects They don’t even bother to track Numbers of birth defects In the nineteen fifties The coined the slogan then Michigan, Michigan The Water-Winter Wonderland It’s kind of mixed up But what did you expect From clueless fellows who didn’t suspect They’d mixed up science with garbage and trash They’ve been spared though you see They’ve all gone to ash Left us with debris That fools want to stash On top the Earth and poison the world They are the enemy of every boy and girl It Isn’t Over In A Day You don’t have to practice a religion To understand the Passenger Pigeon It’s written up in the books If you want to take a look This world has gone astray Thinking killing is okay There is nothing left to say When you take something away That little colorful pigeon Lived across North America Flying in flocks so large They would darken the Sun This world has gone astray Thinking killing is okay There is nothing left to say When you take something away Something went wrong It didn’t take long For the farmers to start firing On the birds all flying This world has gone astray Thinking killing is okay There is nothing left to say When you take something away Some hungry people took them But the real destruction came When they stopped being game And were called vermin This world has gone astray Thinking killing is okay There is nothing left to say When you take something away They blew them out of the sky As they flew over passed by They burned down roost trees Just to get them to flee This world has gone astray Thinking killing is okay There is nothing left to say When you take something away So their numbers reduced Reduced, reduced, reduced They were sure if they got rid of them Their crops would flourish again This world has gone astray Thinking killing is okay There is nothing left to say When you take something away On September 1, 1914 The last one was seen Martha died in the Cincinnati Zoo Frozen in a block of ice Sent to the Washington, DC The Smithsonian Institution skinned her Dissected her Photographed her Stuffed her with saw dust Then put her on a shelf This world has gone astray Thinking killing is okay There is nothing left to say When you take something away Extinction, you know Isn’t over in a day   Meeting Adjourned The fat man sits in his seat The off to his left A woman says we don’t want that here As he bites into a chicken leg he says It has to go somewhere A man steps up to the mike To talk to his neighbors assembled He asks why it has to come here The fat man says It has to go somewhere A little old lady comes up She holds up a newspaper high We just want to know, why, why, why? The fat man sips a Coke Says he to her someone’s got to take it His friend laughs behind his hand The fat man says, Just Fake it Man after man Woman after woman Come up and speak at the podium The fat one listens with odium He says Well, we didn’t make them The night continues on Until it comes to the end with one A child says It’s enough The fat man starts to cough Chokes on his chicken bone and falls His friend moves into this seat Says, now my friend is dead at my feet We will take him over to the dump Drop him down the hill to see Just how far he will roll Into the muck and oils The clay and dust and coils As for me I must say This all has to go somewhere Someone has to take it Why not here? Meeting adjourned   We Thankfully Pray What causes them anxiety? What is the reason for their fear? Don’t they have enough variety? Are they afraid eternity’s so near? We can’t find a job Because they made more rules No matter what you do They treat us all like fools Some don’t hire because of age Some don’t hire because of sex Some don’t hire because of color Some don’t hire because it’s all a mess So workers wait While work stands by They take the bait And in they fly Workers by the score The hundreds, thousands And more Coming to work and do and more Oh, they are so happy All the others feel so sappy What did they do wrong? Did they sing the wrong song? It’s just the way it is No need to say Gee Whiz You can’t change the fearful one Especially when they think they’ve won So they rake in all the money The prices go up for the many They thing they’re winning Some sort of game they’re playing They don’t even know the rules They pretend at what they’re saying Work eight hours a day Drive an hour each way Sit and lunch Have a brunch Just make sure you don’t say You’re not happy with the crowd You don’t like it so loud Just work, work, work File the form, send the email Call the clerk In the end it’s all merry There is no need to worry You’ll get to heaven in a hurry One or two ask Where do I get off? The boss asks What, are you soft? No, I just don’t want to play To be sure it’s a waste of a day If it weren’t for the food You’d see it wasn’t good There’s no beginning and no end This isn’t the life that God sent But they just refuse to bend Their own wounds they can’t mend I am slowly turning away With others to the new day Come and join we say It’s a new life We thankfully pray   Go Fallow If I don’t get some Then you will get none You don’t seem to understand Who has the upper hand The banks are all flush With nothing but slush They made it all up From out of thin air Seven trillion in derivatives Backed up by loans and laxatives It can never be paid back Unless it’s all dropped in their laps Meanwhile the bread price increases Rent and water never decreases Rushing to work never ceases They tie us with lifelong leases And say it’s our honor to serve It will all be gone one day Even though they may pay, pay, pay If you think it doesn’t make any sense Then you’re right it’s all nonsense You can’t get the world to obey By pretending to be above the fray They are not the ruling class It’s clear they’re made of glass People are working many years Driven on by outside fears Then they get to the day to retire Lay down their lives and lose their fire Their families are lost without life All the work and all that strife Has cut a hole in many hearts Leaving nothing but jumble parts Meanwhile the bread price increases Rent and water never decreases Rushing to work never ceases They tie us with lifelong leases And say it’s our honor to serve Families shiver in the cold While their lives and homes are sold To others too greedy to notice They’ve picked out their grave price Taking a turn on the merry-go-round Listen only for the command sound Now do this, now do that No, you’re not allowed to go back So the children are born Parents dies The process is worn So they lie It’s not over money they say Behave, behave, behave It’s not about color at all Sign here and mark your color there Age doesn’t matter Please check the box next to your age Your sex doesn’t matter Please enter your preference for title Pay is unimportant the work is really grand The pay is alright but you will have to stand We have no chairs here One water fountain for three thousand You’re allowed to bring your own bottle Don’t look so troubled and sorrowed We are an international company We hire equally You can rise through the ranks As long as you were born in the right country When it’s all said and done You’ll be put on the run We have no more need for you Well, that is just so Now you must go This system is not civilized Now go and don’t be surprised Meanwhile the bread price increases Rent and water never decreases Rushing to work never ceases They tie us with lifelong leases And say it’s our honor to serve We used to dream Now we just wait It takes long it seems For them to decide who to hate The last two months We have heard from candidates While the real President Is kept hidden in a Cabinet Now they are talking about World War three They seem to want to kill everyone and me What did I do to them? That my servants would revolt Tell me what to do Instead of doing what they are told We’ve made it all clear Year upon year There will be no war over there or here Still they go on Rattling along Singing the same hateful songs It’s got to end somewhere So I guess it will be now There’s no more fighting over the how They will know right now If we don’t get some Then they all get none That’s just the way it will be That is just the way that it is They laugh and they joke and they call it a biz But their so deep in debt and you know it’s no joke All their money and credit is smoke They eat fancy foods and have depleted our stores Instead of working hard they just ask for more Revenge and violence are all that they know They think this is all just a show So put them all out they are out on their own My life’s not for sale nor for loan So the day can come quiet Without any upset With no lies nor gesturing madness Just a fine breakfast Some coffee and toast A day full of fun and of gladness They won’t go quietly But go they will They may sit there silently Behaving all violently But there’s too many of us to care That these men and these women Whom we trusted to work Turned out to just sit and stare They make secret deals They take away meals They run innocent people to debt Then they steal what they have Let it all out for let The rent they collect Makes them suspect They’ve latched on to some evil deed It’s anger and hatred that makes up their feed You can see the fruit they sow from their seed So, go, go, go now Or we will take you somehow There is no reason now to protest Just take your evil, go home and rest Time to let your fields of sorrow Go fallow   Good Fortune Like Rain Coming across the Ocean Looking for a dream of peace The Mother and Father done roaming They have come to Wayne for life Work in all the trades From metal to wood to glass Everything is made here With excellence made to last Wayne, founded in the wilderness Built upon the knowledge of the ages At the Rouge Lower Branch Intersection of the trade routes Of the Native American nations We have built a wonderful city Of worth and value so pretty Where others stand aside The people of Wayne open wide Their arms, hearts and pride To welcome the traveler well inside We’ve made cars and planes and machines That have been transported across the nation To far and wild destinations All across the face of the globe Now we are engaged in new endeavors Enterprise to be admired As we ride out to help our neighbors By us their imaginations fired As we find new products Inventions and methods Never done before or now recreated By our hearts and minds and hands What we make next will soon be revealed It’s a wonderful challenge and blessing That so many have come here to help To build new things and invent them To feed, house and care for people All around the world It was a great day in the morning When Wayne’s flag was first unfurled Reaching wide with the American dream It hasn’t always been peaches and cream But see what happens as we strive forward What we are creating is more than it seems With patience, kindness and fortitude With a propensity to speak the truth The people of Wayne don’t seek solitude We seek what is good for the Earth For our families and friends and neighbors We keep a safe harbor here When someone comes to us wanting They are never sent away bare We have learned still learn from the Old Ones From the people who have come by Who settled here for eons Now reside with us in our lives So be fair, be free all you people of Wayne Recall we are no strangers to pain But regardless of all with love and with courage We will rise up again and again Bless you my brothers and sisters Let good fortune fall upon you like rain   New Beginning Bob-White goes the call In the morning and night In the Spring and the Fall In burning sun and dying light The sound of my father’s whistle Come across and through thistle As he told me of the bird That once wandered How many there were to be seen With their clear quiet song They’d go walking along Big male in front With family trailing along Now I’m wondering what he was telling me As I sit in a chair by the Sea My daughter and son are playing In a pool close by with their friends My father has long gone by me Passed into the Heaven and Sea Now I sit with his memory beside me As I watch over my family So I took my young son with me Out to the forests so wild We heard the call of the Bob-White Which made me stop and smile So I told my own son the story Of the bird and the world in its glory He asked me if we might see one I said I don’t see why But we might have to head Into the brush So the very next day we returned We parked by the side of the road I was ready for anything If it took all day So to my father and God I prayed We sat in the vehicle and prepared Suddenly down through the air Came the song of the Bob-White there In the road before us Singing up a chorus Came Pappa Bob-White along with his flock Walking along in a line They crossed the stony, sandy road Moved off in the brush While I sat there in earnest amazement My son laughed and laughed As he whistled Bob-White in the morning And that bird he answered right back With a happy song of glad tiding And new beginning   Crashing Down There were trees down along the valley Three hundred feet high and two hundred years old Sheltered villages of high peaked rooves Pathways made for feet and for hooves When the snow came down Blanketing the Earth The boughs kept a boundary Between the sky and the land down below When they new people came They all staked their claim It was time for the trees to go So they cut them down They dug in with ploughs Burned up the boughs Ran all the game to the ground What was once a cacophony Now had no sound It was a land without wild animal nor tree Farming takes work and they laid in to work Cutting the Earth with a blade Up came up life and food for the many It was good work that they made They fired the furnaces Burnt metal to beams Filled up the sky with their dreams Still they went on Never knowing where they were going It was best just to be getting on Then the war came The promise of fame Little oversight as long as they produced It wasn’t long before by greed they were seduced Short cuts here and there Became the reality everywhere They exploited every poison on the shelf Never even caring for family or themselves So they produced a flood of refuse Boiling and roiling chemicals spoiling Radioactive matter never seen before They spilled it all out on the ground, on the floor The rivers rolled red, green and blue They collapsed and caught fire by hue They taught their children to take what they could To hide and run to the wood Save it, save it, and hold on to the power When the war is done that’ll be your hour But when that war ended They started again Leave all the rest of us stranded As their poisons they grew Good people were few They kept their heads down and kept on Now they’ve poisoned the Earth, water and air Forget about asking if they care They are as blind as the bats That they collected in vats To render Covid to find new disease No need to say please Stop you now It’s their lives and they don’t know how With three weeks of food in the pipeline They think they can choke off our lifeline But as much as they demand and whine We’ll get along just fine When this all crashes down on their heads   It’s All Set In Gold We walked onto the land Delivered from Jupiter’s change Back when times were not so strange As we step into the world There now see the seabirds fly Feel the sand and hear the wind Just be free and laugh again As you step into the world Oh, when the wind turns round I will come back to shore Oh, when the wind turns round I will come back to shore I’m gonna see it I don’t have to leave it I wanna share with you what’s mine Let your soul and spirit shine Together we will wind And step across the world Oh, when the wind turns round I will come back to shore Oh, when the wind turns round I will come back to shore I’m gonna see it I don’t have to leave it I wanna share with you what’s mine Let your soul and spirit shine Together we will wind And step across the world Come now my life Let us live for all time The world turns beneath us The sky above turns for us It’s all set in gold   His Blessings To Show Down by the houses Near the old oak tree A man came out Bent down on his knee He drank from the cup Then he turned it up Sprinkling some drop of Wine upon the tree When he turned back There was a man in black Whose face was set in marble His words fell like stones That is not good Senor It will come to no good It will bring you no more Bring rain on your brood He stood there in silence Looking upon this man So like an apparition Behind some partition He said it’s no matter, Father What you may think I was just standing here Having a drink I know what you’ve done You don’t have to lie my son This land it is old When the Sun is gone it’s cold Do you know everything? He asked with no smile No the answer came back But I’ve been here a while This land all around you, Senor Has been for ten million years more The Devil has had it All the time in his hand Yes, this all around Has been the Devil’s land Christ has just won it The battle was done But the light does not show When there is no Sun He looked at the priest Stood poised like a beast His breath came out in a blast He dropped his head And said at last It is no matter We have come a long way If Christ is here We will meet him cheer We will keep our lamps burning Trimmed and turning For the wayfaring stranger Here the way will be clear I hope this is true my son Only you know your heart When the Devil is stirring That is time to play our part I wish you good day Hope you find your way You know where I am May God with you And also with you The rough man said As the priest turned round Took his mule and led His way down To the valley below Heading up to the road His blessings to sow   Close By My Girl The city is rumbling to life Waking up from it’s darkness and strife I’ll go out on my way Be back by and by Tonight we can go out to dance It’s world where I work in a trance People fly by all in a whirl I just want to stay close by my girl There are ships off down by the quay Get unloaded by men so angry They spend all their day Trying to make their way But they never go out to the Sea It’s world where I work in a trance People fly by all in a whirl I just want to stay close by my girl The offices are crowded again The bossman quiets himself with gin Clerks rush about Underneath his sharp shout When they end they start up again It’s world where I work in a trance People fly by all in a whirl I just want to stay close by my girl One day we’ll save enough to get gone Now we just have enough to live on I look at our neighors And I wonder what favors I need surrender to go on It’s world where I work in a trance People fly by all in a whirl I just want to stay close by my girl The sky is so blue in the sky If I could just see it some more that’d be fine It is crisscrossed with buildings Up high to the clouds At least up there there’s no crowds It’s world where I work in a trance People fly by all in a whirl I just want to stay close by my girl Riding the subway is crude People in numbers can be so rude There’s no doubt about it It’s all come to this It’s all been a sad interlude It’s world where I work in a trance People fly by all in a whirl I just want to stay close by my girl There are mountains and forests and air You can live, really live out there Where the clouds are all white You can see with your sight Across great expanses so wide It’s world where I work in a trance People fly by all in a whirl I just want to stay close by my girl Your arms are my comfort here Your life has made my life so clear I hold you in love so dear Your strength is an anchor to me One day I’ll take you away One day then I know you will see It’s world where I work in a trance People fly by all in a whirl I just want to stay close by my girl   Firmly Believing When science is used to create new things People have been taught to trust them These new things are amazing things There couldn’t be anything wrong with them But that is not so, it has been taught all wrong In the days when science exploded Quite literal among us The logic of life was eroded Unequal burdens placed upon us Taking the air from someone else Is not allowed for anyone Taking the water from someone else Is not allowed for anyone Taking the Earth from someone else Is not allowed for anyone But in this world The way it is now It can all be done Without a gun Just a guarantee That payment is made with money So tons of pollutants waft into the air Tons of toxins flow into the water Horrible things are buried in the Earth While the science is ignored Because the rich are bored They pay for the lies we are told They don’t even have to be bold Because the liars’ souls have all been sold To the highest bidder around Maybe what I am singing is not clear But just across the street over there Twenty six thousand tons of one toxin Is permitted to escape from a factory’s flues All because the company paid State dues Just a half mile away A company buries in clay Things that would burn your skin They let it soak into the Earth Just a mile away A rich community has their way Dumping their waste in the river That flows down around this way They all pay in the end As to the air, Earth and water they bend Never realizing what they have done Until cancer, birth defects and disease start to run Even then though these things hurt them They never act against them Firmly believing science protects them   Your Sound Blue, blue fire Burning under the ground Lost for so long Then now recently found Blue, Blue fire Burning rocks in the Earth Left for so long Dug up now to a new birth Blue, blue fire Radioactive, mysterious, dangerous What can it give? Experiments showing already glowing Blue, blue fire Carefully separated From soils and Earth Marie Curie’s life took with the curse Blue, blue fire It soon became clear That this new material Would fill the world with fear Blue, blue fire They stuffed it in a bomb Atmospheric bursts Wiping out cities with aplomb Blue, blue fire They kept it carefully hid They didn’t want to anyone to know Just exactly what they did Blue, blue fire Atoms for peace became the cry As they exploded even more Tearing holes in the sky Blue, blue fire They left the waste all about Till people started dying Then they raised a new shout Blue, blue fire Put in a waste pile We’ll keep careful record Notate and file Blue, blue fire They were not wise Everywhere they move it It increases in size Blue, blue fire Now there is some by your home Causing birth defects and cancer They tell you it’s safe Blue, blue fire Burning under the ground You can tell them to stop it But they ignore all your sound   After Judgement Day The scent of cinnamon in the air Citron breathed in on the breeze When the wind shifts back I can smell the Sea It’s a moment in time for me That I have lived my life Blue waters around me Moving on out to the Sea It was a place to live life right Settle down and raise a family Then the realtors came With their strange, strange dreams Building up houses, hotels and stores All they wanted was more, more, more Then came the money And the monied people with it It wasn’t the way they wanted it So change it they did it Where once one could see Across from the woods All the trees came down Taken away for good A golf course was put in All grass and sand pits Ready for play Came all the halfwits Then along through the forest All trees also came down They covered the streams Dug up wide canals Put in man made lakes Ponds and Rocks The final step was building new docks For gigantic boats That would sit there and rot Those people came down Once or twice in a year Every once in a while Some renter would drown Never knowing that For all the dressing and lace It was still a wild place When the hurricanes come down They knock the houses around Insurance pays up They throw new ones back up In the off season there When everything is bare Come the runaways and druggies Trying to find something square What was once a paradise Is no longer very nice They’ve taken it and torn it Broke it up and blown it When the wind comes by Nothing can stand up against it The fools who have moved there Don’t understand it The history is hidden under plastic and wood They’ve come and they ruined All that was good But that’s the way it is going It will do so till it’s done When I go there now I just lay in the Sun What goes around comes around And it’s on it’s way We’ll see who is standing After Judgement Day   I just can’t comprehend There’s a sadness in the world I just can’t comprehend A surrender to things That people don’t understand There’s a sadness in the world I just can’t comprehend It used to be hard to tell where it came from But as time passed by it all became clear Some people long ago made a great big bomb When they taught use about it defeat was near The bomb it saved us Is what they told us But things didn’t actually work out that way There’s a sadness in the world I just can’t comprehend A surrender to things That people don’t understand There’s a sadness in the world I just can’t comprehend The war was going bad They were running out of money Businesses were sad The politicians weren’t funny They had to do something They had to do it fast Or they would have to a sign a treaty They couldn’t make last There’s a sadness in the world I just can’t comprehend A surrender to things That people don’t understand There’s a sadness in the world I just can’t comprehend So they rushed up production Of atomic weapons out in the West With lots of money and no instruction They partied and lied their best The bomb it was made Sent in a plane to degrade A city of paper and wood When it was all over The killers declared it was good Then they hid all the fact under cover There’s a sadness in the world I just can’t comprehend A surrender to things That people don’t understand There’s a sadness in the world I just can’t comprehend They didn’t tell anyone What they had done As they learned what they did They tried to keep it hid But it killed them in mind and soul They turned from people to a hole Still the waste they had made Sat out in the glade They pretended they knew what to do They left it for the next generation or two No one can comprehend The stupidity they’d send Down a century of maniacal science The had not indication of prescience So now cancer rates are roaring Birth defects are soaring The only solution to hide their acts Has been to lie and change the facts While they grab for a solution They offer free abortion Hoping no one will see What has come to be That this land of death Was once the home of the free There’s a sadness in the world I just can’t comprehend A surrender to things That people don’t understand There’s a sadness in the world I just can’t comprehend   We Are Blest With the green of the forest We are blest With the blue of the sky We are blest With the song of the birds We are blest With each other now We are blest God made the Sun and the sky The arcing rainbow that comes before dry The rain falling down upon the clay God made the light in each day With the green of the forest We are blest With the blue of the sky We are blest With the song of the birds We are blest With each other now We are blest The planets were fashioned and set up in space With stars arranged in galaxies all set in place Time and unimagined expanse Full of power and glory and sense Present moments all filled with suspense Fiery orbits bombarded by rays Planets and planetesimals with uncounted days Blue stars White stars Yellow and Orange Green and Blue and Purple Radio stars and X-Ray Stars Stars made of sound and sand Planets spinning round with no land All of these God made and the questions remain The answers will come by and by No need to fear by only to see The Glory of God in the sky With the green of the forest We are blest With the blue of the sky We are blest With the song of the birds We are blest With each other now We are blest   In Their Arms Mitochondrial disease is not very well known Except among those whose pain it has sown There are many different types Of very different stripes It’s hard to see how long they’ve escaped detection Some families dare Some families care For the loved ones they have in their harts They boldly declare against bodily harms To those they hold dear in their arms Time has marched on and now they are known But still to a precious few A patient could see a doctor or three And never find one who a mito disease knew Some families dare Some families care For the loved ones they have in their harts They boldly declare against bodily harms To those they hold dear in their arms Education is needed From young age to old To understand the questions untold What could be said Of these we should be rid But without knowing what They won’t get far In finding out just what they are Some families dare Some families care For the loved ones they have in their harts They boldly declare against bodily harms To those they hold dear in their arms It’s a terrible thing to say That these now unknown today Will someday save millions of lives They each seem to touch On some bedrock issue From which many diseases arise How it comes they’ve been ignored Comes as a giant surprise Some families dare Some families care For the loved ones they have in their harts They boldly declare against bodily harms To those they hold dear in their arms Focus is needed and focus will come As parents and patients run To gather information With selfless dedication To raise the education Of the heroes we know will come Some families dare Some families care For the loved ones they have in their harts They boldly declare against bodily harms To those they hold dear in their arms Faster An American Woodpecker is sad to see Moving across the face of a tree That comes from Central America That no insect will eat here Wasting its time On a fruitless climb Looking for food that’s not there These trees have a story Though not filled with glory Would be good for everyone to know They come from down south Near the equator They grow maybe thirty feet high or so Where they come from they are understory trees Quite small you see To the great trees they hardly rise up to their knees But they grow fast and that’s why The politicians buy, buy, buy They bragged they have leaves for shade That’s not quite true their leaves are more made for glade Or hiding under a great tree’s canopy You see, there are many and many there are They grow all the time during the season Which, by the way is quite different down there Than it is in colder climes like Michigan’s Still they insisted they would grow So grow they did but twisted they hid Another problem in their strange boughs They are really a bush and went cut sap does gush Resin is all around at the ground Then the leaves, they fall, fall, down From Spring through Summer and on into fall They fall, fall, fall This protects them from insects in the land they are from But in the US they fill up the drains Cause floods and that’s not all the pains They die quickly you see, as soon as they are a tree Their seasons are different I’ve said Give them a life and after many winters It’s sure they will all be dead They may be of interest to some who seek green They produce pods filled with great beans The people complain because when they all fall down There’s no place to walk in between So we are struck with them now The political know how Has produced a tiny ecological disaster But as soon as they enter the forests and woods Then the world will change for the worse even faster   We’ll See It was the time of the rush Gold rush Boom rush Lumber rush All across the continent Everything was destroyed No one was content With what became of the national sentiment This is one story Of a tree and its glory How it came to save many a town Then it grew and it grew And couldn’t be put down So it was ignored and they pretended they knew What was happening What an ignorant crew The tree is called the Asian Ash Don’t ask me why but thanks for the ask It’s a drab tree generally In Spring it is green In autumn yellow, then it drops its big leaves on the ground The problem it was meant to solve Was to bring shade with new resolve To all the towns and cities that had cut down all their trees Yes, that is right, when left to do what they pleased The people destroyed everything, planting corn and wheat But forgetting the bees It was hot sweaty work and the towns looked like dirt With no trees to line the sidewalks and parks Along came a salesman and an Asian ash in a bag Told them it was for sale and real silvan They took up the offer The salesman said to the marks Oh, yes, it’s good for sidewalks and parks Just put it right in and it will grow past your chin You’ll all be happy as larks So they forked over the cash Took his plant stash Planted them all over town They grew and they grew And before you knew Every town and city once again had leaves But these trees you see Though they didn’t make you sneeze Grew faster than anyone knew They like North America so much They immediately took up housing in the forest Where they proceeded to push out Nearly every other species The amazing thing is that nobody noticed Then one day In a pallet from China To a Japanese company In the Charter Township of Canton Don’t you know Arrived a little bug Who gave just a shrug Introduced as the Emerald Ash Borer Finding their dinner all about the hood They settled down to eat their food Then state in turn As they started to learn These little bugs were eating the trees Sent out alarms Don’t move your arms There might be Emerald Ash Borers on them Firewood could no longer be moved Paper making and lumbering came to a halt Then, amazingly someone realized They only ate Asian Ash Trees after all American Ash, Chestnut, Maple, Elm, Cypress All of them you see The little but ignored every tree So the Asian Ash came down Then, without a sound The American forest began to grow again In trees You can see it now It’s all around Growing up and growing strong A thing that has been gone for so, so long What next will happen? We’ll see!