They came
with starched shirts
and smiles full a teeth.
Like them sharks I’ve only seen
in the books at school.
Same one I had to leave
‘fore I was finished with year eight
to help mom and pa with the harvest.
They came and they talked and they taked.
They had pa sign his name
just a scribble
he ain’t know his letters
ain’t know just what he signed away.
“Mineral rights”
Seemed like free money
and you don’t even lose your land.
When they came and started tearin’
into the hills and hollers
I’d roamed and played
we didn’t understand
the trap they’d laid.
Thirty years later
pa’s back’s broke
he can’t hardly breathe.
I’m afraid
same fate’s comin’ for me.
Boss gets fat as a brown deer tick
I pult off my hound last fall.
Same hound I had to put down
cause I can’t hardly feed us all.
The coal’s dryin up
rail cars hardly comin’ through
seems the comp’ny’s bout to pull out
they’ve picked us clean
drained us, too.
Same way
those politicians up north started to do.
They ain’t never stopped.
Treatin’ America like a coal town
what all can they extract?
How deep can they mine?
They don’t care what they destroy
don’t live down here
in the dust and red dirt, anyway.
What can they take from me
what all can they take from y’all?
The rich get fatter than deer ticks
suckin’ the blood right out of the country.
They’re comp’ny men.
You and me- we ain’t part of their comp’ny.