Burdens

Arid wind whips through thin corn
Gold faucets pour brown water
Forests fall and fires burn
The Earth's become no shelter

The final birds shot from the sky
And soon somebody eats it
Our institutions built to last
Never were completed

The rivers dry, the oceans rise
Our cattle farms grow fatter
We idle by "The End is Nigh"
The livestock eats its fodder

And then the lightning holds its strike
And a child is born
A rare hopeful moment
When mercy settles storms

We feed the child mealy corn
We give the baby water
We teach her how to plant no trees
She learns to curse her Mother

Springs bound past with little rain
And flowers grow less often
Summers blaze what does remain
For winter chills to soften

And in the snow her belly grows
Fear creeps into her mind
A child's life just like her own
She'll live no other kind

And on and on it goes like this
One child from another
Until theres just one child left
Our burdens on her shoulder

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