Judy Small
I have heard the songs about the coalmines stripping mountainsides of beauty
Heard the songs of whales to make a marble statue weep
And I have wept to see the ice run crimson for the sake of human fashion
Heard the forests groaning as the axes cut them deep
But it never touched me deeper than the tears upon my face
And it never lasted longer than a day
Until that summer when I went back home to visit friends and family
And I saw what they had done to Charlesworth Bay
Now it's not the kind of place that ad-men want to glorify in posters
Not the kind of place to set a greenie's heart alight
And I can't say that it filled my dreams or even held a special memory
But when I look back on my life it's in my line of sight
And the cry that left my lips that day came not from conscious thinking
I had no chance to think of what to say
It was a grief so pure and deep that I cannot tell where it came from
When I saw what they had done to Charlesworth Bay
Now I have spent my holidays in hotels at the seaside
I have stood on sun-drenched balconies and breathed the salt-sea mist
But not again shall I lie by some pool or stroll some private shoreline
Without wondering whose Charlesworth Bay was this
So now when I hear songs of coalmines or of forests gone forever
Or of city buildings sacrificed to feed the millionaires
I see again the giant shadow cast where once the marsh and swamp was
Feel again the rising anger and the bitter sting of tears
And you people who tear memories down and call it growth and progress
May you never know the grief I felt that day
For I have never felt so frightened for the future as that morning
When I saw what they had done to Charlesworth Bay
Oh just look at what they've done to Charlesworth Bay
Susannes
Folksong-Notizen English Notes 
