This was composed for, and performed at, the Pubic Service Board hearing rally across the street from the service board offices on June 22 in opposition to the fracked gas pipeline. I was there in full Revolutionary War uniform singing and partaking in the rally. This is performed to the music of “The Sound of Music.”
 
The Destiny of Vermont
The hills are alive with a threat from afar
The fields are the path this monster shall scar
The thunderous rumble of fracked gas below
Exceeded with ease by the sound of cash flow
 
The Public Disservice Board sets up a trap
Where all just petitions are stuffed in their lap
The humble implorings across the land
Are rudely dismissed with the wave of a hand
 
Crisscrossing our green fields and fording our lake
What once we thought sacred we now must forsake
Through Public Domain they reap private gain
Preserving our land we struggle in vain
 
The summits of ridges belong to Him
They can’t be at the mercy of anyone’s whim
The glorious valleys and mountains above
We must all preserve this treasure we love
 
This glorious treasure hard fought for and won
Our new fight for justice has just begun
Making a killing is killing this state
We must change our course to determine its fate
 
While Freedom of speech is very cheap
To really be heard is an expensive leap
Our fate at the mercy of the gang of three
Is not true justice for you and me
 
Rustan Swenson
Shoreham