Riding Along In My Automobile

Riding along in my automobile
My baby beside me at the wheel
I stole a kiss at the turn of a mile
my curiosity running wild
crusin’ and playin’ the radio
with no particular place to go –
Lyrics by Chuck Berry

One of the things
on this earth
that I love best of all
is taking my
Beetle Bug VW Betsy
out for a little spin
down the grand ol’ highway
that runs up and down
the East Coast
Route 1
either as far south
or as far north as
I can drive
on a single tank of gas

Betsy loves this old road
which was built before
the more modern
Interstate 95
The trouble with the
Interstate is that
you don’t get to see
nothing but Interstate

If you are proud of where
you happen to live
in these parts
and you want to show off
some of the prettier sights
then you would take scenic
Route 1 and
you would
put down the top
and let the wind
muss up you hair
all the while
breathin in that
good ol’ country air
callin out to the cows
and the horses
as they graze and
chew their cud

You will see the
manicured farms
and the big red barns
and the tall silos filled with
wheat and barley and corn

Pennsylvania has
some of the best
farmland on earth
It is the home of the Amish
and they have been farmers
for generations

Correct me if I am wrong but
I do believe that the Amish have
never planted a crop that has
ever failed to produce
in abundance by the
Grace of God and
with the heavy sweat
of their brows

As you can probably tell
I am more than a little in awe
of the Amish of Lancaster County
Despite their refusal to be modern
they have created some of the most
prosperous farms in America
and we all have benefited from
the bounty that they have
been able to yield from the
good rich earth of Pennsylvania

However a new threat has come
by the name of Fracking
which is a very bad technique for
freeing up reserves of natural gas
by blasting water under such high pressure
that the rocks that holds the gas hostage
are literally exploded under the pressure
The problem is that Fracking
pollutes the fresh water aquifers
that we all depend on for
the fresh water that we drink and
for growing our crops
The greed of the gas companies that
employ this technique seems to
trump the need to conserve and protect
the natural environment that
has produced so much good for a
great many people who depend on
agriculture to earn a living
Fracking along with
mountaintop removal coal mining
are the two greatest threats
to our traditional way of life

Once again
as with the recent
banking crisis of 2008
our peace and prosperity
is being threatened
because of unregulated
corporate greed

If this situation
continues unchecked
for very much longer
there will be
no mountaintops
to marvel at come Autumn
and nothing to see along
Route 1 except
the scarred
denuded landscape and
gas pipe farms
for as far as the eye
can see

We the people
of Pennsylvania
are all up in arms
over this threat
and that includes
the Amish and
the Quakers
(and droves of others
who also want to join
the fight)

I only mention this last part
because when it comes to
fighting the satanic forces of
corporate greed
it doesn’t hurt to know that
when push comes to shove
that we’ve at least got
God and righteousness
on our side!
http://www.greenPNC.org

jhmarkowitz
Philadelphia, Pa. 2012