Water Rights

Scrap away the earth
Claim debris as your own
Assign a monetary worth
Sell back the streams
Sell back the stones that
Had been under their feet
All along.

Historic treaties so
Easily defeated by way
Of imminent domain.

Profit has no sense
Of right or wrong.

They know of your snake
That burrows
Just beneath their lake
Afraid its steel skin can crack
Turning their water black
With its venom, and lack
Of regulation.

Water and oil, salt and soil
Commandeer and distribute
Native lands diminish returns
Trample those who dare dispute
Slowing your charge
With their songs.

The chants get louder
The banners grow taller
A shanty camp becomes a nation.

Shareholders and bulldozers
Declare what is and isn't sacred.

When word comes down the pipe
From the biggest suit of all
To pillage their water rights
As the snow falls.

Disregard their thirst.

Water and oil, salt and soil
Commandeer and distribute
Native lands diminish returns
Trample those who dare dispute
Defending the sacred
With their songs.

It's only business
It's only business you will say.

When home, health, and history
Are shoveled away.

Gain wealth at any cost
Letting no rock
Stand in your way.