We watch the carp gasping for air
As we sweat through yet another day
Enduring this interminable heat wave
Too hot even in the early morning air
The warm water lacks dissolved oxygen
Suffocating the fish in the shallow lake
Even though this is the hardy survivor species
Able to tolerate what kills most others
The lake is drying up like a mud puddle
As the summer drought continues
Everything that grows thirsts for rain
While the climate crisis gets ever worse
All the fossil fuel that remains in the ground
Represents wealth owned as private property
And the billionaires in charge of decisions
Absolutely will not agree to take the loss
That is why the planet is burning up
As they obstruct and delay any serious action
Even though the undeniable cause has long been known
Even as the daily headlines shout global catastrophe
It took a civil war to put an end to slavery
Divesting the owners of their human property
Though much unfinished business remains
And exploitation remains a way of life
Now divesting the owners of their fossil fuels
Faces an intransigent invested opposition
Unmoved by human suffering and mass extinction
Answering only to their bottom line
