The Tar Sands and ongoing spills and threats to the environment

From outer space
they can be seen
The Tar Sand ponds
the moral question
where have you been?
made of sand
and leaking out
the poisons
that they all knew about

once a Boreal forest tall
its living wealth
was shared by all
trees gave oxygen
providing what
all could understand

crisp fresh air
was the way to go
but beneath the surface
the sands we know
the dark satanic mills
where we
could scrape the filth
eternally

and so we did
what no man before
has done
we razed to the ground
and more
we brought in great trucks
and machinery
and began to create
the energy

Alberta’s eyes
were becoming sore
as the carbon rose
and the tailings soar
arsenic and lead
drawn from the deep
to poison the fish
as the people sleep

to poison the air
to poison the stream
to create a nightmare
as children dream
hydrocarbon exposures
too
coming to a village close
to You

soft tissue sarcoma’s
unheard of and rare
somehow were heard
sometimes as a prayer
could be heard in the forest
the footprints though gone
the light became dark
where the sun had once shone

Vast profits for some
migratory birds
landed on ponds
and there were no words
to describe the new evil
which created the case
as they sank in the oil
lost without trace

The First Nation peoples
were feeling such pain
they could see that their mother
was crying again
they feared the worse
for they knew the best
had been sacrificed clearly
and was not addressed

the balance of Nature
degraded before
the eyes of the seeing
that many ignore
the Natural World
as the beat of its drum
the energy called
and they clearly had some

pipelines were dug
to send the black gold
every which way
for on this they were sold
across many highways
and byways it went
under streams, under creeks
its passage was mean’t

Big Oil was rubbing
its big hands with glee
the dirtiest oil
was good therapy
the Michigan oil spill
came out of the blue
and reached down as far as the
Kalamazoo

cracks had developed
some years before
but for 17 hours it spilled out
and what’s more
it was undetected
they were unaware
and it flushed through the land
like nothing before

ongoing stress and sickness
and pain
like the vilest of armies
no one could contain
wild life took big hits
the people did too
land owners and villagers
clearly, they drew

on their strength and their
fortitude
but gradually
it wore them all down
so exposed as we see
it spewed every which way
vile to the extreme
the army of neon
and big oil’s machine

people have suffered
the land has been made
the air is polluted
the Tar Sands have laid
waste to an area
of scenic sights
turning their sunniest
days
into nights
and now its Obama
who seemingly can
create in his wisdom
The great Keystone plan
the mother of all pipelines
which will ensure
an energy source
that BIG OIL does adore

the dirtiest oil
running all of those miles
through the bowels of the earth
eclipsing the dials
should another spill happen
and happen it will
there does not exist money
to pay that great bill

the soundness of judgement
the greed of the few
the hopes and the prayers
of people like you

This was written to try to help
John Bolenbaugh who today I saw a video of him
under going a terrible seizure caused by
the pollution of the land where he lives

his heartfelt plea to help him brought tears to my soul

johnbolenbaugh@yahoo.com