Everything has its price
Everything has its price:
A tree,
The living sea,
Fresh air
And childrens’ lives
Health, social care
Everything is for sale.
Quick! Grab slice!
The wild Antarctic ice,
The last whale, Everything has its price.
Everything has its price:
Freedom to walk the wild land, Loitering,
Staring at the waves;
People passed on like slaves
From land to shanty town, Always let down.
You can buy anything:
A coup,
A government or two,
The right to stand
For parliament,
A sacred site,
A way of life, a tribe,
A right.
If it’s not for sale, Try blackmail
Or a bribe.
Everything has its price:
A gun,
Somebody’s son To carry it, A concience
Drummed
To numbness,
Guinea pigs for labs, Silence,
A newspaper or three
All up for grabs.
Nothing is free.
Everything has its price –
That’s how we know
What things are worth:
A fortune sunk
In obsolescent junk,
A penny for the Earth,
The future on a throw
Of dice.
Don’t think of what is fair
Or beautiful or rare,
Primaeval,
Magical,
A perfect link
In a living ring.
Don’t weigh
The rights and wrongs –
That reckoning belongs
To those who pay.
One value will suffice:
Money is everything
And everything has its price.
Louise Muston
