Ever After

Cement pillars of smoke,
Rise from the landscape,
Like monuments to death,
As passers by plug their noses,
In disgust.
The sky turns brown,
Like dust to dust,
As the ashes of progress,
Turn to profit and lust,
Life continues, oblivious,
And seemingly helpless,
As the power of money pollutes,
And we close our eyes
To the stench and decay,
And open our hearts in dismay,
And solute the dollar,
As we pay the toll,
On the road to nowhere,
Consuming everything in sight,
Without conscience or guilt,
In a world where the eyes burn
with tears,
And the head worries about fears,
As we keep counting the years,
And can't look at ourselves
in the mirror,
And honestly say we care enough
to act,
With little exception,
And so we stare blankly,
At our futures,
And weep,
And hope that somehow, some way,
The powers of love and peace,
Will conquer the evils of hate and greed,
And we'll all live happily ever after.