Progress (1980)

Today as I look around
In the world
What do I see?
I see
Footprints that man has left on the sand
While walking through time.
I see fruits of our ambitions
Figments of our imaginations
And I ask myself
When will it end?
When will it end?
It is plain to see
Universally,
This planet is not bountiful as it was
Simply because
In his quest for success
Nothing stands in man's way
World rivers run dry
Soon the birds won't fly
The mountains will be no longer high
And when I relating to meh lord I does wonder why.

I see
Charity deplored
Equal rights totally ignored
Wisdom and ingenuity working in accord
Simply to afford such inventions
As thermonuclear warfare
And environmental warfare
And I wonder now
Where do we go from here?
Prophets everywhere
Gaze upon the horizons
And declare that judgment will come
As the savage hands of unscrupulous men
Defile everything passing by
Time is running out
As we eat and drink
Species on the brink
Of being extinct
And I think
No one can deny
The price of progress is high

I see consciousness abate
As today, we live recklessly
Money
Makes egos inflate
And, thereby, creates,
A turbulent state.

I see a struggle
Between the sexes
New hang-ups and old complexes
Now the question is
Right in context
What shall be next?

I have already seen
The world has become divided
Between race, colour, creed and class
And some of the things
The scriptures predict
Truthfully come to pass
Soil that wouldn't bear
Children making children
To be part of this growing mass
And I ask
If this is progress
How long will it last?

Performed by King Austin (Austin Lewis)

Sources:
http://www.trinisoca.com/calypsonians/2006/0902b.html
http://www.nalis.gov.tt/NationalAwards-Emblems/KingAustin-Progress.htm