A hit and run through the late sixties.

It was the dawning of the Age of Aquarius, a new epoch in the life of man, when spirits evolved and souls collided, each claiming to have the key. The winds of history, the sands of time, or maybe the glorious godhead’s mind shifted and turned the swirl of dancing atoms that make up the earth and the cosmos above. The power that runs the universe created the new age, forging it from the blood of human beings, mother earth, disappearing species, stardust, moonlight, silent nights, northern lights, rockets in the sky, gods and myths, sol up high. It coalesced with humankind to let the sunshine in, inside of us all, shining through the people of the earth, as they sang and danced, lived and died, shining, shining, shining, all shining on together and forever in the ever present now:

marches in selma along the way,
to sweat, bodies protesting as tired muscles sway;
waiting for america to see,
the basic human need for people to be free.

too many times we’ve watched the wind blow,
and still people do not seem to know;
to leave sin behind, we must lose the ruse of other,
reject all ism and embrace our brother.

murder in the mississippi mud,
the constant flow of innocent blood;
caught in the dying red hot embers of hate,
rise sisters and brothers, no reason to wait or hesitate.

white hoods, black fists, change in the air;
someone’s telling me I got to beware;
freedom, brother, freedom is a spirit in the sky,
bought with the blood of soldiers as they die.

mahatma ghandi, then MLK say,
civil disobedience is here to stay,
march in the streets, give your hand to another,
we’ll never get anywhere without each other.

freedom will ring if we stand our ground,
bob dylan sings as we raise our fists and pound;
all trying to learn to just let it be,
standing in the sands of time with one hand waving free.

saigon, hanoi, vietnam, vietcong, in country blues,
too much blood for a song as g.i.s pay their dues;
boys sent home in boxes while jungle war closes in,
politicans speak of peace at home sitting easy in their den.

sit in, be in, bed in, love in,
peace, peace, peace, peace, peace;
lennon says to give it all a chance,
then gets arrested and misses the dance.

timothy leary rises high from the din,
there he is, he’s outside looking in;
ram dass throws away his name and his tie,
takes medicine to open minds and learn how to fly.

purple haze, orange sunshine, blue owlsley hit us in the brow,
tune in, freak out, be here now;
peace, peace, peace, peace, peace,
the search will never cease.

lsd, lucy in the sky,
sds, students getting high;
hippie, yippie, people on the rise,
trip, trip, trip, your mind either opens up or fries.

lennon imagines a world at peace,
harrison’s guitar weeps because war doesn’t cease;
on the watchtower hendrix strums while janice sings the blues,
rock, rock, rock, listen for the clues.

lbj, tricky dicky sent our boys away,
kent state, guns cocked, four died today;
something’s happening here,
that is not very clear.

choppers flying, guns popping,
agent orange, napalm dropping;
it’s the same old thing but now it’s on the little screen,
death over dinner is the new american scene.

yasgur’s farm, woodstock, wavy gravy, hogfarm, half a million strong;
dance, sing, eat, slide, sleep, dance, sing, and you can’t go wrong;
high, high, kiss the sky above,
peace, love, peace, love, peace, love, love, love.

mercury and gemini seeking to be free,
from the mighty pull of the earth’s gravity;
mother earth in the night sky,
stars shine, moons beam, and astronauts fly.

neil armstrong on the moon,
small step, giant leap, none too soon;
how can it be that we’ve come this far,
fighting war on the earth while we’re reaching for a star.

thumbing down the highway and going with the flow,
people think they do but they’re never going to know,
the essence of freedom without internalizing love,
either here or down below or high, high, up above.

soldiers dying, television lying,
jungles burning, helicopters flying,
napalm killing all the turf,
the problem is that charlie don’t surf.

commune, hitchhike, california dreaming,
young girls in the canyons, u.s. one teeming;
beautiful people want to say,
going up country, got to get away.

tune in, drop out and you will learn how,
to live and love each other all in the now;
easy rider, freedom sider, groovy people, rainbows flying, band on the run;
all you need is love and the world is one.

jfk, rfk, mlk, jc,
don’t forget the rascals said people got to be free;
sergeant pepper said let it be, let it be because you always need your friends,
or the world’s just a picture of pretend.

black panthers, power to the people,
revolution, evolution, there’s a clock on the steeple,
don’t look back, deja vu,
all the power in all the world is there inside you,

acid tests, merry pranksters, cowgirls in the sand,
canyons, purple mountains, this land is our land;
over time, blow your mind,
there’s always something new to find.

mediation, self realization, yogananda,
babaji, krishna, krishna, rama, chi,
instant karma going to get you if you don’t learn how,
to give up all the judging and be here now.

And in small towns all across America, change came more slowly. Like in the back waters of a tidal pool, things tended to stay the same, to follow Newton’s laws of inertia, maintaining the status quo. But even in small town America, in the everyday lives of families throughout the land, the tides of change began to tug at the hearts of the young, to pull down walls and barriers that separated black and white, man and woman, past and future, now and then, us and them, young and old, first and last. Change was coming, barreling down the annals of time, mixing up our DNA, tripping out our RNA, making everyone remember that cool cat Jesus the Christ who said that the last would be first and the first would be last. At last, at last, freedom at last. Dreams were dreamed while floating down the torrential river of blood that always rises with the holy specter of change, dreams of peace, dreams of equality, dreams that were paid for with the blood of reality.

Power to the People.
Om Shanti to us all.