May it be known
that we are what we own
Each measured by our possessions
After so many years
And an ocean of tears
We still haven’t learned any lessons 

In a civilisation
Driven by aspiration
to move upward in social position
Advancement of status
Is gained on the basis
Of realising material ambition

We start our acession
With the acquisition
Of a skateboard and DVD player
Progress to designer threads
Hair up in dreads
An illegal pharmacopea

You acquire your own gaff,
a millstone for life,
but it says you've arrived as a person
then you buy a sports hatch
and still don't spot the catch
though the burden of debt must be hurting.

Your standing will climb
When your kitchen design
Features red tiles and an AGA
And no - one will mind
you’re in organized crime
When your drink is Chablis and not lager

A picture of Mars
And a stick in a vase
A futon when you lie down to dream
A cow in a tank
An ethical bank
A therapist who tells you to scream

Books you never read,
A strange new - age creed
Wardrobe full of designer attire
A killer PC
A wide screen TV
All the objects of your desire

A new home in a loft
A remote Scottish croft
Or a gite in the distant Dordogne
Obsessive acquisition
To improve your position
Will inspire you upward and on

In life you acqurie
Objects of desire
and things all people need
These items you treasure
Because together they measure
The strength of your will to succeed.

Until you realise
all the things that you prize
have not brought you happiness
When the reckoning's done
you see that you've become,
enslaved by the things you possess