Tripa Peat Swamp

We have to sit back and think very hard
what life’s about for us all
why do some profit from others big losses
in truth that factor does appal
long term survival is not measured by
bank notes they don’t mean a thing
we have to start thinking about the unborn
and just what we do that could bring
to the great table set in the sky up above
the triple persuasion of wealth
shadowy figures crouching in doorways
doing their business with stealth

it is vandalism, what the corporates do
to the green forests tucked in the clouds
this peat swamp forest
a complex of green
hiding in darkening shrouds
of dust and destruction
of ash soot and fire
a calamitous state of affairs
who would tire
from the thought of those ill gotten gains
in what is a miasma of prayers

Malaysia knows only to well
but its hell
after the 4th year its made
and from then on lots of rich pickings
profit yea profit first grade
as for the triple bottom line
no one cares
really the activists
are splitting hairs
its what they can earn
out of what people burn
fuck all the rest
now its our turn

gross revenue comes in
substantially for
those investors
who remain still very sure
as for the rainforest
as for the rest
its the cash in the bank
and we all know what’s best

that acts as a mask that fits over the eyes
that acts like thick ear plugs
that’s about the size
if you can’t hear their screams
if you can’t see it all
you can just have a vision
and go back to school

think what the palm forest gives you
each year
the leaves for your brooms and rooves
did you hear?
the bark for your baskets
the trunks split into
building materials that’s what you do
palm wine from the palms
and the residue
is made into fuel
so its better for you
its used in cooking, fats, candles and soap
oils from the nuts
really each trope
produces a great deal
even the shells
are an energy source
so palm oil it sells!

so whatever, the spirits
that once did exist
the orangutan the families whose bliss
was out in the open
for all then to see
the arborial apes climbing through
every tree
now in a duffle bag
I am just one
who ran out of trees
yes my day is done
I ran out of family
I am very sore
my feet they were burned
and I cannot ignore

as the forest was burned down
the outlook was bleak
where was the sanity
with so much pique
I wrestled with those hearts
who seemingly said
in a way as survivors
we are better off dead

I am here in the hospital
on someone’s bed
on a drip, on a trip
not sure if I’m dead
I feel my heart beating
but I cannot hear
the jungle the animals voices
it’s clear

the cries of the monkeys
are silenced today
the trumpets of Ele’s
it seems they did pay
the roar of the tigers
I do not know where
my family and friends are
lost to despair

I am a victim
on the sheet that’s marked loss
the balance sheets healthy
so who cares a toss
within all these figures
that banksters admire
their is a total loss
from that awful fire

deaf to the cries that most of us make
a massive upheaval
the goons not awake
except to their bloody investments
that came
after 4 years the profits
which no one could blame
who cares if you don’t have a forest?
who cares if so many are dead?
okay so the country might suffer
well we are all bloody well fed!
up with the ranting of activists
they could have shared in the dosh
if they’d have wanted they could have cashed in
the sounds of their yells do not wash

Forests consigned to just memories
those Orang’s who leapt to new heights
The tigers. the Ele’s and me in my bed
our days in the sun, are your nights
the chains saws I hear in my slumber
the whirr and the cries of my kind
the thunderous crash of the timber
it plays merry hell with my mind

enter the huge trucks so many wheels
the great logs oh yea we know how that feels
chemical spraying wood floors are paying
furniture too how it is playing
but what of our forest?
what of the life
what of the Orangutan’s
immersed in the strife
open your eyes what do you see
not even one bloody healthy tall tree
no leaves to speak of
nothing no more
just a palm oil explosion
that you can abhor
PT Kalista Alam did their thing
burned our rich forests
oh yes they did bring
complete devastation
to what was our home
they dug out canals
and drained where we roam
and in reality they broke the law
Indonesia let them
they never saw
the blood in the rivers
the tears in the sky
the lymph on the leaves
they never asked why
the courts failed to think
their mentality lost
Tripa Peat swamp
bears the ultimate cost
corruption so rife
from the top
right on down
in the blood of the victims
the people will drown
and what of creation
and what of their worth
well that all boils down
to the great Planet Earth

s