This Is My Planet

When I was a boy I’d hike through the woods that were living out back of my neighborhood. I’d go down to the stream and catch a trout and marvel at nature that was all about. When I got thirsty I’d go to this pool and drink the water so clean and cool. One day I went back there to get a taste and it was polluted with industrial waste. Chorus: This is my planet and this is my earth this is the trust I was given at birth. All of the water, the earth and the air, is in my custody, is in my care. When I was a young man I went off to war to kill my brothers on a foreign shore. I didn’t hate them, don’t know if they hated me... (we were doing the business of the powers that be.) We fought in a jungle that was lush and green, made by God and so serene— but it was where the enemy would hide so we killed it too with an herbicide. Chorus I became a consumer, used all that I could of the earth and ore, the water and wood. In the name of commerce, in the name of trade I plundered the earth like a renegade. The factories smoked till they hid the stars, the rivers stank and the earth was scared. I held my conscience, ripped up by the roots, there was sap on my hands and crud on my boots. Chorus My thoughts were like trash clogged in a drain and regret ran thru me like an acid rain. So I took a hike to the back my mind when I was younger, in saner times. I dipped my mind back in my memory pool where the waters ran so clean and cool. I became, once again that wide-eyed child who had sworn his love for all natures wilds. Chorus