their hands are the beginning, the hands toil, they work, they sacrifice

and so industry grows, and the mouth of greed opens

a hungry mouth roars

a hungry mouth devours

the sky, the earth, the plants, the dirt, the clear sunsets and the sparkling dew

become so much waste

soon the only food left is the hands themselves

and by that time, there is no choice for mercy

this choice was made when the first domino was pushed

when the first green finger of the earth

was chopped up into money

when the first prideful man

carved his own vulgar name in the clean trunk of a young tree

and found that he liked it