A brightly shining tropic sea, gleaming wide and blue,

Kaleidoscopic unity alive in every hue.

Eyes rise in disbelief, wondrous realms of coral reef,

Splendid schools of neon fish fool away the time.

Further ‘long, picture’s wrong,

Reefs are bleached, fish are gone,

Water growing way too warm with the planet’s changing clime.



Chorus

What will be our legacy, set to dawn down the bend?

The vision that’s been brought to be, or a gift we pawned and brought to end

Where prisons, fakes and fools unfold an earth ablaze for oil and gold?

Blinding lies and dying tides, right before our eyes,

What will be our reply?



A mighty flow of ice and snow tumbling down to sea,

A monument of cold and white and bracing majesty.

A glacier reaching past the shore, greets the ocean with a roar,

Leaves a strand of ice caps, the restless waves to ply.

But swiftly now they’ve all gone down

Ancient glaciers turning around,

In a world growing way too warm with the planet’s changing clime.



Chorus

What will be our legacy, set to dawn down the bend?

The vision that’s been brought to be, or a gift we pawned and brought to end

Where tyrants reign and dark clouds roll an earth in chain for oil and gold?

Ice sheets slide and oceans rise, right before our eyes,

What will be our reply?



‘Neath northern lights and midnight sun an Inuit family’s home

On wild and windswept tundra where caribou herds still roam.

They span the timeless arctic land, pry some food from nature’s hand,

Share in what the earth provides each soul passing by.

But troubled times are setting in,

Ice and game are getting thin,

In a land growing way too warm with the planet’s changing clime.



Chorus



What will be our legacy, set to dawn down the bend?

The vision that’s been brought to be, or a gift we pawned and brought to end

Where sirens wail and storm winds blow, an earth betrayed for oil and gold?

Dice roll live through northern skies, right before our eyes,

What will be our reply?



© Michael Bressler