What shall it profit a man
To gain whole bars of gold
Gathered and sold
And lose his crystal clear H2O
What shall it profit the man?
What shall it profit a generation
To gain a pocketful of dusty, dirty dough
Here and now
And lose hope in a pending future
And embrace a bleak future
Here and now
When a future hope is dashed
Here and now
What shall it profit this generation?
What shall it profit a young soul
To fail to train a brain to gain
But to gain from a muddy, deadly pit
All the ore
And lose all the chance there exist
To train to gain it all
What shall it profit the young soul?
What shall it profit a land
To lose whole plots of gold
And gain scores of incurable sores
And gain scores of widened holes
What shall it profit the land?
What shall it profit a farm
To lose its golden cocoa pods
To lose fertile acreages
And gain a desolated, deserted plantation
What shall it profit the farm?
What shall it profit a sacred grove
To lose all the sacred trees
And gain a desolated, depleted thicket
And gain a muddy, marshy earth
What shall it profit the sacred grove?
What shall it profit a forest
To lose its rare species
To lose its dense envelopment
And gain a desecrated thicket
And gain a sparse ambience
What shall it profit the forest?
What shall it profit a nation
To lose reliable times and seasons
To lose stable weather patterns
And gain erratic seasonal patterns
What shall it profit the nation?
What shall it profit a people
To lose national, natural resources
To lose their natural source of finance
And grope for the mercy of international assistance
And gain the pity of international pittance
What shall it profit the people?
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 profit the Chieftain?
What shall it profit a landlord
To lose control of his stronghold
To lose firm hold on enforcement
To grant unfettered freedom
To lose the fresh greenery
To gain the browning lakes and rivers
And give a freehold to absolute wantoness
As they gather them and sell…in destructive brazen-ness
What shall it
…profit?
