April is Poetry Month: Day 19

 Woodstock

I came upon a child of God

He was walking along the road

And I asked him, where are you going 

And this he told me

I'm going on down to Yasgur's farm

I'm going to join a rock 'n' roll band

I'm going to camp out on the land

And try an' my soul free

        We are stardust

        We are golden

        And we've got to get ourselves

        Back to the garden

Then can I walk beside you

I have come here to lose the smog

And I feel to be a cog in something turning

Well maybe it is just the time of year

Or maybe it's the time of man

I don't know who I am

But life is for learning

        We are stardust

        We are golden

        And we've got to get ourselves

        Back to the garden

By the time we got to Woodstock

We were half a million strong

And everywhere there was song and celebration

And I dreamed I saw the bombers

Riding shotgun in the sky

And they were turning into butterflies

Above our nation

        We are stardust

        We are golden

        And we've got to get ourselves

        Back to the garden

                            

                            Joni Mitchell, 1969

From: The Norton Introduction to Literature: Shorter Third Edition, Edited by Carl E. Bain, Jerome Beaty, J. Paul Hunter, Norton, 1982.

I didn't keep many of my college textbooks, only a couple of Norton anthologies of literature.  However, I wasn't in college in 1982; I had two small children at that time, so college wasn't a part of daily life. It must have been another addition to my bookstore that didn't sell.  This volume weighs in at 942 pages...and it's the "shorter addition!"  It was satisfying to find song lyrics from Joni Mitchell between the covers.  The poem reflects some of the naive optimism of that time..."bombers turning into butterflies" but the ideals we had back then of peace and simplicity are powerfully stated. It was also satisfying to see that she was able to return to performing at the Newport Folk Festival, 8,660 days after her last performance at the age of 55.  She had suffered a debilitating brain aneurysm that left her unable to walk or talk.  That she was able to relearn the guitar and be able to perform again at the age of 78 is amazing.  This is a woman who has been amazing...stardust and golden...her whole life!