Poetry Corner: What Shall It Profit?

What shall it profit a man

To gain whole bars of gold

Gathered and sold

And lose his crystal clear H2O

What shall it profit the man?

 

What shall it profit a generation

To gain a pocketful of dusty, dirty dough

Here and now

And lose hope in a pending future

And embrace a bleak future

Here and now

When a future hope is dashed

Here and now

What shall it profit this generation?

 

What shall it profit a young soul

To fail to train a brain to gain

But to gain from a muddy, deadly pit

All the ore

And lose all the chance there exist

To train to gain it all

What shall it profit the young soul?

 

What shall it profit a land

To lose whole plots of gold

And gain scores of incurable sores

And gain scores of widened holes

What shall it profit the land?

 

What shall it profit a farm

To lose its golden cocoa pods

To lose fertile acreages

And gain a desolated, deserted plantation

What shall it profit the farm?

 

What shall it profit a sacred grove

To lose all the sacred trees

And gain a desolated, depleted thicket

And gain a muddy, marshy earth

What shall it profit the sacred grove?

 

What shall it profit a forest

To lose its rare species

To lose its dense envelopment

And gain a desecrated thicket

And gain a sparse ambience

What shall it profit the forest?

 

What shall it profit a nation

To lose reliable times and seasons

To lose stable weather patterns

And gain erratic seasonal patterns

What shall it profit the nation?

 

What shall it profit a people

To lose national, natural resources

To lose their natural source of finance

And grope for the mercy of international assistance

And gain the pity of international pittance

What shall it profit the people?

 

What shall it profit a Chieftain

To gain the least of the sum

And lose the largest of the sum

To profit a Chinatown

What shall it profit the Chieftain?

 

What shall it profit a landlord

To lose control of his stronghold

To lose firm hold on enforcement

To grant unfettered freedom

To lose the fresh greenery

To gain the browning lakes and rivers

And give a freehold to absolute wantoness

As they gather them and sell…in destructive brazen-ness

What shall it

…profit?

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