Progress

They put in the new road years ago
and they hauled away the trees and coal
a man put in a petrol station 
and beside it a hotel for the travel vacation
and a few of the more hearty folk decided one day
to make this newly cleared space their home to stay

They built a church to keep in touch with God
and they built a police station to keep in line the odd
they built a schoolhouse to educate their offspring
and a store to buy materials and things
they built a factory just outside of town
and created jobs and money for the people all around

Other folk heard about the sleepy town arising
and ventured there to make a go at life beside the spring
banks came in to lend a hand with lots of capital
shopping malls and dealerships rose up as well
they elected those that they saw fit
to run the place, collect taxes and all that bit

By now they needed energy, more money, should they sell?
they dammed the local river and they sunk some oil wells
they had to build more roads, some freeways for the cars
and a place to keep the killers, pushers and robbers behind bars
radio and TV stations sprang up to give the daily news
of local strife and foreign wars and who was suing who 

In came giant corporations from abroad
and music groups and sporting teams for people to applaud
they built a local center to send men into space
and they passed some harsher laws to keep minorities in their place
they built a zoo for lions, koalas and the lot
to look a nature and to remind them of what they’re not

They sectioned off the land to deposit all the trash
and they built a nuclear power plant to get some extra cash
they cleared some more of nature for some needed office spaces
and they built a brick court house to settle legal cases
they built a sterile hospital to care for all the sick
and to work on cures for cancer from the crick

They built a few more centers for trains and planes and boats
and a few more bridges and parking lots and roads
and they finished a few more entertainment house for the masses
appliance stores of conveniences and a few more over passes
but, though they try to supply demand, all they find is sand
their energy is spent and they’ve used up all the land

A crowded city stands full of herpes and of aids
there isn’t any jobs, so the honkies hate the spades
and the crime rate always rises, there’s nothing else to do
trust is gone, you never know what is or isn’t true
the city stands a monument to what our hands create
and left there in the rubble are the people and their alcohol and drugs
their minds sedate