O why are the salmon runs ruined
And the mighty deltas parched and dry
Because the earth is already dammed
Why is the Amu Darya withered
And the wetlands shrunk to sterile salt flats
Because this earth is constantly dammed
Why do the sand hill cranes tremble
On their long legs
Landing nowhere after nowhere
In diminishing migrations
Why do those liquid slaves the rivers
Stand still in their chains
Stripped of their old ways
Never to spill free again upon the land
Because the whole earth is repeatedly dammed
Dammed for power
Dammed just to make work
Every river across the globe
Locked, blocked toxic
It is time to stop
The constant damming of the earth
Free the great currents, unleash
The torrents of the Nile on a thousand miles
Of thirst, let the whorling eddies of the held back Platte
Revivify the wetlands
Re-circulate the stacked sediments
Bring back the hatcheries
The green thatch of cottonwood
Upon arid banks
I want to hear the rush and hush
Of free green water
Restored to ancient circuits
I want to see the earth de-cursed
Its rivers resurrected
The damages reversed
I want a free-flowing re-blessed world
I want people to stop damming this planet