Poppy Fields

Poppy Fields - Ian

In the heart of Indo China where the mighty Mekong flows
Lived a peasant with extended family ten,
There he made a modest living where the opium poppy grows
And his children were all women and no men.

Then one day an air crop duster flew above his poppy field
And it sprayed the crop with poison ‘till it died,
So the peasant watched in horror knowing family fate was sealed
While the women stood around the hut and cried.

Now the peasant couldn’t understand the harm those poppies made
In the far flung major cities of the world,
So he didn’t see the logic of that air crop duster raid
But a glimpse of future poverty unfurled.

There wasn’t compensation from the ones who ruined his crop
Family money and the grain supply ran out
Then the peasant paid a visit to a money lender shop
He would care for family needs without a doubt.

So the money lender tightened his control from day to day
Then the time came when decisions must be made,
He must sell his eldest daughter to the lender come what may
And the lender sold to others in a trade.

So this helpless girl was forced into the evil white slave trade
Over many years she paid her Father’s debt,
Then her owners threw her out now sick, their evil fortune made,
From her body there was nothing more to get.

They returned her to her Father on the poison ravaged land
She was married to a relative close by,
And they wonder why the sickness now affects their family band
For there’s non can work no matter how they’ve tried.

So another daughter made her way to rescue family dear,
And another hopeless cycle then began,
But the leaders of the nations turned their backs for it was clear
That the poppies were to blame and thus the ban

“© Ian Grice 2008”