Innocence lost

The wind pushed our ships East and West,
temptation won, swiftly our ethics were laid to rest.
Under our nails the soil of foreign continents stained our soul,
to increase our sphere of influence, our only goal.
For new tea, silk or slaves, we made little compromise.
The profit of bounty, source of our art and science.

Our unrestrained lust for expansion, they haunt our reminiscence.
For our duty, today and tomorrow, is to remember what we've lost.
Through pillage and rape, what we so hastily spoiled, is our innocence.