Growth

I've walked in the fields.
The morning sun, cutting out the chill in the air.
I've followed the harvesters.
The aroma of crops, tossed into the wagons with no room to spare.
I've haggled in the market with the vendors.
A bushel of vegtables, a sheaf of wheat, sold at the fair.

I've walked in the neighborhoods.
We add a row of houses, less people sit out in the rain.
We add a sewer pipe, a water pipe, a light.
People gain independence. Health is easier to maintain.
We add markets, shops, taverns its quite a sight.
The streets are busy, why should we complain.

We've walked in battlefields where the fight is for power.
Where growth unchecked continues, the battle could be over controlling ore,
yet stone, soot, runoff build, and it still isn't enough to keep profit growing.
The battle could be over access to food or lumber or something important in our core,
yet the forest recedes, they need more to keep orders flowing.
When growth unchecked continues, they don't want to pay for roads to every door.
Resources get stretched because its profit they need more.

This thinking makes us live in scarcity and fear.
If we claim this place we must defend a different mindset,
abundance and compassion must reign here.
Even in shortage, that is the pledge we make and how we will defend against threat.

Our community will have time for pursuits other than profit.
Each citizen will have a house, a job, and a voice in their path.
That is our exchange for allegience and our hope for the future.