Innocence Parts 1 & 2

Innocence is my friend, she rarely lets me down
When the weights come on, she's got the woes of the world at bay
(Empire builders) crowding out the skyline
(Short sellers) taking up the end times
(Tech bankers) feeding on the deep river of our DNA

Now anybody else in the world might tell you
Anybody else in the world might say
Anybody else in the world might tell you, it's too late
Hey-hey-hey

(Rich listers) cheat death in the deep freeze
(Tongue twisters) smashing out the birds and bees
(High flyers) pay big bucks to get a selfie from outer space
There's always someone with a new toy
Someone selling fake joy
Tax dodgers smash the rough sleepers on their way

Now anybody else in the world might tell you
Anybody else in the world might say
Anybody else in the world might tell you, it's too late
Hey-hey-hey

In case you're wondering we need a new solution
A moral transformation, a peaceful resolution
And if you're wondering if ecocide is normal
Only if your appetite persuades your rational mind
And if you're wondering, this is not a movie
We're not in the chorus line, we're just pretending we're divine

Now anybody else in the world might tell you
Anybody else in the world might say
Anybody else in the world might tell you, it's too late
But it's never too late, not too late, not too late
Never too late

From the wattle yellow hemisphere
Learned in the law am I
Where wilful negligence is punished and foreknowledge of consequence
An unambiguous signpost to guilt, no excuses
So I imagine a court of climate criminals crowded with PMs, sheiks and presidents
Woodside corporate titans, all well-groomed, best jargon
Delivering profits from frying the planet, and roasting us alive
Puncturing the thin blue protection line

And here they come
The enablers, the acolytes, the political laggards, the allegiance shifting, grifting
Still grinning journos in the cheer squad bringing up the rear
All guilty as charged of the cruellest hoax of now
Whereupon the people, sorely relying on God's grace, that's the bank of nature actually
Are crucified on the altar of financial theocracy
They say we can have it all, but let's face it, the only constant is inequality
And the sober fact, infinite growth lust collides with sustainability and reality
Here we go

Looking out across the promenade at Manly
The lycra chants of split-level personalities
Screaming down from the stainless edifices above Fairy Bower
On a once bushy slope, can't quite drown out the lullaby sounds of oars in the water slapping
The Manly boat crew, volunteers all, big surf, no fear

Weary of heart and mind, not I
It's the innocent's fate, I'm willing to oblige
And repeat again and again and again and again and again and again
It's never too late