for some reason,
i am so drawn to the hope of the music of the sixties
i remember being a teenager then having lost my parents
and looking for answers i could not find
not in the promise of business
or the lure of psychology
i found momentary peace in the company of the long hairs
those people called “hippies”.
my home was the road
it took me from where i was
to a new place i did not know
hitchhiking around the world
trying to catch the wind
i remember sitting on street corners with a big pad of paper
and charcoal pencils
drawing the people and places around me
i was definitely not a good artist
and yet in just about every place that i visited,
people would come out and sit with me
bringing wine and cheese and bread and olives and whiskey
and something to smoke
and we would sit together
strangers, often not able to speak
a word of the other’s language
and laugh together and smile and hug and love each other.
we live in a beautiful world
where people are so kind and generous and loving
where people are good
and every country treated me with kindness and fed me
and i would sometimes put a tablecloth on the street
and put whatever little offering i had
on the tablecloth for people to take.
i would put food, and drink and money on the table cloth
and others would come and do the same
and as evening came
we would all gather what was on the table cloth
and someone would invite us to their home
and we would drink and smoke and cook and eat together.
my heart is so happy when i remember these times
and the innocence of those moments
and i stare now into the world
and my heart grows sad.
those days seem harder to find
until . . .
we leave our televisions
and go back to the streets
moving from town to town
chasing the wind
and when we sit face to face
with no expectation of each other
no desire to fix each other
or prove the other wrong
when we just sit together
and laugh and drink together; when we smoke something
and eat together
and just enjoy each other in the moment
the world is a beautiful place
the people are beautiful people
the love is so real.
it is so simple, when:
love replace fear
kindness replaces hatred
finding unity replaces finding differences
happiness replaces anger
togetherness replaces loneliness
and peace replaces war.
listen to Donovan singing Catch The Wind