Train of Progress (rp) - pipTalk Forums

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WindWalker11
Junior Member

since 2008-12-24

Posts 41

0 posted 2009-02-01 07:50 PM

By spilled blood oiled;
by captive dreams driven;
by stacks of green pulp fed,
the mad train of progress,
carrying its privileged passengers
at warp speed to nowhere,
charges madly along its finite ochre track
laid down by worker-slaves moonlighting.

A rumbling shakes the earth;
black smoke belches in the evening sky;
a mournful whistle blows:
for all must see, all must hear
the passage of that awful train
of progress...

A patient earth
has endured many long years
since the tracks were first laid
and the train set in motion
to encircle the planet in a vise-like grip:
but lo! Where have they gone,
those hallowed times
of progress?
Only a skeleton crew remains
in desperation seeking
to keep the mad machine rolling.
Many passengers have had to dis-embark
as their stacks of green pulp became ashes;
the flow of innocent blood is fast drying up,
and many a captive has broken free
of the baleful hypnotic eye.

Denied its lies, its blood, its green pulp
the train is slowing down
as a refreshing wind blows gently
over the earth's healing wounds
sowing peace and harmony
in its wake
but sitting sadly on a rusting track
the morbid still bemoan the passing
of that killer train
of progress!

Midnitesun

Member Empyrean

since 2001-05-18

Posts 28647
Gaia

1 posted 2009-02-01 08:53 PM

"A patient earth
has endured many long years
since the tracks were first laid
and the train set in motion
to encircle the planet in a vise-like grip"

Gaia has been far too patient
with the shenanigans of her two legged inhabitants,
who've managed to wreak havoc
on all the earth's diverse life forms.
Yet we still have a short window of opportunity
to make amends, to undo or at least stop
destroying our only home.

LindsayP
Member Elite

since 2007-07-28

Posts 3410
Australia, Victoria

2 posted 2009-02-01 09:54 PM

A very thought provoking poem WW, it certainly makes one stop and think.

Lindsay

Honeybunch
Member Rara Avis

since 2001-12-29

Posts 7115
South Africa

3 posted 2009-02-02 01:22 PM

WW11 - I do so hope the train is slowing down but I've a feeling that it's going to take many more "minds" to make that happen. Progress is a killer of so much but maybe that's the process that is needed to bring about eventual peace.

Your words always make me think.

Helen

Bill Charles
Member Patricius

since 2000-07-11

Posts 10619
highways, & byways, for now

4 posted 2009-02-02 06:37 PM

WindWalker11 - I wonder at times if progress is really progress at all. It does seem like it destroys a whole lot in its path...

BC

Marchmadness
Member Rara Avis

since 2007-09-16

Posts 9271
So. El Monte, California

5 posted 2009-02-04 02:35 AM

Greed and so-called progress seem to go hand-in-hand.
Ida

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