There is a calf-skin bond issued in 1648
To build dikes and canals in Holland
That still pays interest today.

Near 400 years.

For the people who built those dikes and canals
That the bond still honors,
Long since dead,
And their children dead,
And their children’s children’s children dead,
What an accomplishment!

The armies of people who dug the canals,
Who stacked the walls,
And bent nature to their will were heroes
For their work has fed generations.

The will of mankind
Reigns
Over hundreds of years!

And the million-year-old sea
Smiles at mankind and says,
“Wait my precious, for I will that you return to me.”

And the billion-year-old sun
Smiles at the sea and says,
“Wait my precious, for I will that you return to me.”