American Progress
Run, you savages! Columbia the Combine is coming!
She harvests the fruits of nature too dark and ripe.
Her pale, white skin juxtaposed against her dark intent
Will show you what she really wants:
“Surrender, demons!” she cries.
Her minions follow suit, those wild-white settlers.
Behold, even the sun rises in the east and forces you west,
Getting rid of the darker clouds and darker people.
Although your bison is strong, her locomotive wins.
The landscape is golden, as if transitioning from
The transparent nature to an opaque shroud.
Oh, what I wouldn’t give for a return to nature,
Unadulterated, unblemished, uncorrupted,
No Columbia.
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This is about the 1872 painting "American Progress" by John Gast.
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