They Seem Like Giants

I wrote this poem and then added a chorus so everyone at the Voices for the Valley film screening could sing along. It’s captures the powerlessness we so often feel in the face of giant corporations, like the fossil fuel industry, and the strength of communities when they come together.

They seem like giants 
And we feel so small 
But when we stand together 
We can stand tall 

They look like giants 
With vast open pits 
Towering machines 
Plumes of black dust 
As far as can see 
The earth is stripped bare 
And poison runs free 
Sacred Mother defiled 
Without — a care 

They seem like giants 
And we feel so small 
But when we stand together 
We can stand tall 

They sound like giants 
Hear the scrape and the whirr 
The clang and the grind 
As the drill bores down 
Right near Wollar town 
But the sound of silence 
Is most deafening of all 
As our great Aussie creatures 
No longer share their call 

They seem like giants 
And we feel so small 
But when we stand together 
We can stand tall 

They act like giants 
Not the ones in dirty boots 
I mean the ones in fancy suits 
They don't give a damn 
About the common man 
They're busy counting dollars 
While we're left in squalor 
And they sell the future cheap 
While our children lose sleep 

They seem like giants 
And we feel so small 
But when we stand together 
We can stand tall 

They seem like giants 
And we feel so small 
But when we stand in circle 
We can stand tall  
With you at my side 
And Earth as our guide 
Together we sing 
With justice our call 
Our voices echo 
Across mountain and sky 
Deep in the Valley 
They'll hear our cry 

They seem like giants 
And we feel so small 
But when we stand together 
We can stand tall