There’s a line of creation
from the land
to the Wagan-Jagalingou
from unpolluted seas
to the living Reef we knew.
There’s a line of production
from government bribes the people paid
to coal
to railways and jobs, that’s what they ‘re saying,
and votes.
There’s a line of destruction
from the mountainous rift
and promises politicians
and profit-takers cannot keep,
to the sludge of ports
smearing the ancient waters
shutting down the lives of the Reef.
The next line of finance
will not come from tourists
fronting a reef of bones
and inland the black hole
torn in land the people own.
Yes, dollars and votes cheer
coal’s three-century
industrial fantasy –
polluted air
and scarred earth’s misery.
But see: sun, water, wind,
and thermal flows,
earth’s ancient energies
rouse in the new century
to our aid, to redeem our heritage –
only
devotees of votes and money
we will not hear
what the imperilled earth has said.