Flower Child's Lament
a “flower child” danced through life
so many years ago
cares were lost when she took a “toke”
and “passed the pipe” around feeling “way cool”
wishes for “peace” and “luv” she gave freely
but “pigs” were her enemies
even “flower power” couldn’t help her rise above
the brutal force used on students at Kent State
“Four dead in Ohio” became her mantra
when the National Guard surrounded her campus
fallout from Kent State spread nationwide
“Gimme Shelter” from the storm at home
while “Charlie” was pursued by draftees
Vietnam, a place she had never seen,
but the flower child’s spirit suffered
each time a son or father was “sent home in a box”
she wanted all to “live long and prosper”
in a fantasy world where love bloomed like “Strawberry Fields”
but the “flower child’s” petals fell as she grew older
it was time to “get real” after all
*Entry for Craig Cornish’s “Talk That Way” contest.
By Carolyn Devonshire about life in the 1970s
Copyright © Carolyn Devonshire | Year Posted 2012
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