Pipelines, Profit and Poison

Do we take it as our duty to decimate beauty?
An insatiable obsession to take possession,
As we crack-frack the earth, place of our birth?
And all for more oil we spoil the wilderness
And prairies and the sacred lands of bands
Of people we’ve already robbed and confined
In our refined and defined sense of civilization;
For corporations we make misappropriations,
And applaud ourselves on making progress
While our habitation continues to regress!
Are we blind?
Or do we find profit today a fit excuse
For destroying our tomorrows as we
Keep toying with the subtle balance of nature?
So we build fine pipelines to line the pockets
Of corporate millionaires and billionaires . . .
But the earth (and all) belongs to her Creator;
And we, we were meant only to be caretakers,
Not destructive money-makers!

 

Note: This poem is “dedicated” to the proposed Dakota Pipeline, which would extend from “from the Bakken Oil fields in North Dakota southeast to Illinois.” Tanya of postprodigal.com has an excellent article on the proposed Dakota Pipeline along with some great links to other articles.