"Where Have all the Flowers Gone" RIP Dad

Dad, myself, and his grandaughter at the Chelsea Hotel. 

Well, its been four years now since dad has been gone. We spread his ashes from Texas to Louisiana that June. 

His obituary came out later that year. 

Here's Will Dad and I in NOLA four years ago saying goodbye. We'll toast a cold one for you tonight old man. Here's to beer on the sidewalk.

Now, there are piles of his papers, books, and memories, an old hunting hat here, a sock there, a book of poetry strewn about my office and my mind. 

Some of my oral histories with Dad found their way into my rebel friendships book.  He's not around for my reading tonight, so i tell him in my mind. Odd not to be calling him to tell him about the reading. So  we talk it through in our minds.  These days, these are a lot of one sided conversations. 

Every year, i dig through memories in my mind, remembering and writing and thinking about the old guy, the good and bad lessons, the movies we saw together, etc.  "Casablanca" and "Patton" were his favorites.  We went to see "Out of Africa" when Mom moved out thirty three years ago. 

The mind has funny ways of storing these memories, in between trips to the El Quixote, where we used to eat, to toast the old man. Sometimes they are there.  Sometimes, it feels like I've told them all.  Others, i dig through the old letters and journals and find many more.

But most of them linger in my mind, listening to Pete Seeger.  My first glimpses of Dad's beat past took place when he played me Pete records back in the early 1980's, welling up with emotion when "We Shall Overcome" came on, talking with me about what the words meant in "Where Have All the Flowers Gone?"  Where have all the young men gone, it was an anti war song, Dad explained, revealing something of himself.  

Every year I recall you  when I see those spring flowers blooming, blowing in the distance, finding their way out of the dirt as earth wakes after its long winter nap, carrying a bit of you with them, out into the sky and oblivion. 

Where have all the flowers gone?
Long time passing
Where have all the flowers gone?
Long time ago
Where have all the flowers gone?
Girls have picked them every one
When will they ever learn?
When will they ever learn?

Where have all the young girls gone?
Long time passing
Where have all the young girls gone?
Long time ago
Where have all the young girls gone?
Taken husbands every one
When will they ever learn?
When will they ever learn?

Where have all the young men gone?
Long time passing
Where have all the young men gone?
Long time ago
Where have all the young men gone?
Gone for soldiers every one
When will they ever learn?
When will they ever learn?

Where have all the soldiers gone?
Long time passing
Where have all the soldiers gone?
Long time ago