circling the drain

 
 
 
 
this is the country where  
the Eerie Canal was built  
by hand using shovels,
pickaxe's, dynamite,  
seniew, bone and blood
 
today we cant make enough
car parts to keep our
vehicles on the road
 
this is the country where  
stores like Sears, Penny's,
K-Mart, Montgomery Wards
lined main streets in every  
town
 
today the legacy and
memories we will leave
to our children are dollar
stores spreading across  
the land like an invading  
army of storm troopers
 
this is the country where
men of vision trode like giants  
across the land and built railroads,  
machines, erected factories where  
millions upon millions labored to  
earn their daily bread and a little  
piece of America's hope  
 
now we sit behind small
screens dank faced and
dreamless of invention
for a better tomorrow for
everyone  
 
this is the country that
created the polio vaccine,
the first heart transplant  
and took man into space
 
now we take sick people  
and toss them from hospital  
beds to the cold streets or
or let bean counters consider
life and it's loss another day
at the office and space has
become the distance between  
anyone that doesn't believe  
the same as our superior  
group
 
American the
brave
 
American the
beautiful  
 
American
 
once your song sang
across the sun like
a golden chariot and
we invented the
future like  
lions
 
now we throw away the  
future like busted eggshells  
and cower from tomorrow like
the sun from an approaching
forever winter
 
America