What shall it profit a man
To gain whole bars of gold
And lose his crystal clear H2O
What shall it?
What shall it profit a generation
To gain a pocketful of cash
Here and now
And lose hope in a pending future
Here and now
Because a future hope is dashed
Here and now
What shall it?
What shall it profit a young soul
To gain from a muddy, deadly pit
All the ore
And lose all the chance there is
To train a brain to gain
What shall it?
What shall it profit a land
To lose whole plots of gold
And gain scores of incurable sores
What shall it?
What shall it profit a farm
To lose the golden cocoa pods
And gain a desolated, deserted plantation
What shall it?
What shall it profit a sacred grove
To lose all the sacred trees
And gain a muddy, marshy earth
What shall it?
What shall it profit a forest
To lose its thickness
And gain a sparsely dotted thicket
What shall it?
What shall it profit a nation
To lose reliable times and seasons
And gain erratic seasonal patterns
What shall it?
What shall it profit a people
To lose national, natural resources
And grope for the mercy of international assistance
And gain the pity of international pittance
What shall it?
What shall it profit a Chieftain
To gain the least of the sum
And lose the largest of the sum
To profit a Chinatown
What shall it?
What shall it profit a government
To lose firm hold on enforcement
To grant unfettered freedom
To lose the fresh greenery
To gain the browning lakes
And give a freehold to absolute wantoness
As they gather them and sell
In destructive brazen-ness
What shall it
…profit?
