Inheritance (Folk Song)

1.
The oil tycoon left nothing in his will
to his son except poison fields and hills
and seas and rivers that were black as ink
whose water was not even fit to drink.

 

2.

 

And air that nobody could even breathe;
his selfishness, his son could not believe
and deserts where bright forests once had been;
a grey world that had been a world of green.

 

And he said:

 

Father, why did you squander our wealth.
Why did you think of no one but yourself?
And rob me of what was my right by birth,
the mansion and the wealth of this great Earth.

 

3.

 

And that is what the oilmen do today
fritter the wealth of this great Earth away.
And all our children, they will be bereft
when it is gone and there is nothing left.

 

4.

 

No beautiful blue skies or shining seas.
No emerald of fields or forest trees
Nothing left of the green and pleasant land
except the poisoned seas and desert sand.

 

They'll ask you:

 

Father, why did you let them do that?
Squander this Earth just to make themselves fat.
How could you have just sat idly by
watching them kill her; watching her die.

 

Bridge:

 

But its not too late
to save the forests;
it's not too late
to save the seas.
Don't accept the fate
that they've set for us.
Its not too late
to set the Earth free.