The Guaranteed Livable Income
by Florence Richard, 2007

Adequate income for everyone is our foremost goal,
As Common People everywhere aspire to take control.
Too long the rich have plundered our earthly wealth and treasure,
To fuel the profit system, the greed, the wars, whatever.

  The old work ethic is passe
We see a more enlightened day;
Toil and wages countermanding;
The good Buzz Hargrove notwithstanding.

Be not ignorant or obtuse.
Create for need, not for abuse.
For all time may we put an ending,
To the call for spending, spending.

Commercials everywhere appear,
Assaulting senses, eye and ear.
Stop this all pervasive torrent,
Commercialism is abhorrent.

Few years are left to turn the tide.
Everyone must get on side.
Scientific investigation
Gives but fifty years duration.

Sure, we all must say goodbye,
When our moment comes to die.
What lies beyond may be unclear.
But we still hold this planet dear.

We like to think that when we're gone,
The World and Kin will carry on
There's no time left to contemplate,
We may already be too late.

We must stop plundering today,
The GLI will show the way.
Communities will be rewarded,
When local goods can be afforded.

Time to participate and share,
Time for joy and love, and care.
We will let the forests grow
And the rivers find their flow.

No more degradation scams;
Stop the buzz saws! Damn the dams!
Then woods and water will be rife
With birds and fish and wild-life.

By good environmental creed
We'll harvest only what we need.
What joy then to rediscover
Our Blue Planet, Earthly Mother!  

Florence Richard, March 2007
first published in the Victoria Street Newz

Victoria, BC Canada

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