Monday's Poetry: "The Great Mandala"

by Pa Rock
Poetry Appreciator

Today's selection is a haunting protest song that was written by Peter Yarrow of the folk singing group Peter, Paul, and Mary. It is featured on their Album 1700, a wonderful collection of thoughtful and provocative music. The Great Mandala appears in this space today as a tribute to the greatest group of folk singers ever, and in loving memory of Mary Travers.

THE GREAT MANDALA (The Wheel of Life)
by Peter Yarrow

So I told him that he'd better shut his mouth
And do his job like a man.
And he answered "Listen, Father,
I will never kill another."
He thinks he's better
than his brother that died
What the hell does he think he's doing
To his father who brought him up right?

Take your place on The Great Mandala
As it moves through your brief moment of time.
Win or lose now you must choose now
And if you lose you're only losing your life.

Tell the jailer not to bother
With his meal of bread and water today.
He is fasting 'til the killing's over
He's a martyr, he thinks he's a prophet.
But he's a coward, he's just playing a game
He can't do it, he can't change it
It's been going on for ten thousand years

Take your place on The Great Mandala
As it moves through your brief moment of time.
Win or lose now you must choose now
And if you lose you're only losing your life.

Tell the people they are safe now
Hunger stopped him, he lies still in his cell.
Death has gagged his accusations
We are free now, we can kill now,
We can hate now, now we can end the world
We're not guilty, he was crazy
And it's been going on for ten thousand years!

Take your place on The Great Mandala
As it moves through your brief moment of time.
Win or lose now you must choose now
And if you lose you've only wasted your life.

Goodnight, Sweet Songbird of Peace

by Pa Rock
Obituariest

Mary Travers died yesterday, and with her passing something much greater than one individual has slipped into the whispering echoes of history. Mary Travers was a singer, a sweet songbird of peace who was the sparkle and soul of the folk singing phenomenon of the 1960’s: Peter, Paul, and Mary. With Mary gone, the trio that was so much a part of American culture and counter-culture has also passed. An era has slipped away.

The songs of Peter, Paul, and Mary form a soundtrack of America across some of the most socially turbulent years of the twentieth century. Much of their music was geared toward peaceful protest, but even militaristic sorts could smile and sing along with “If I had a Hammer,” “Puff the Magic Dragon,” and “Leaving on a Jet Plane.” And for sheer poetic strength in music and lyrics, there are few collections that can compare to “Album 1700,” a classic in every sense of the word.

The sixties are quietly disappearing, blowing in the wind. Those of us who were fortunate enough to come of age during those exciting times are graying now and beginning to slip off of the great mandala - the wheel of life. But the mandala keeps on turning, and new causes come around, and other fierce youth will climb on board and take up the struggles.

The world today is a much better place than when Peter Yarrow, Paul Stookey, and Mary Travers took the stage to sing down war, marched with Martin Luther King to end segregation and violence, and lent their fame and talents to a myriad of other social causes like bringing an end to nuclear arms and promoting the fair treatment of farm workers. The world is better, but there is so much left to do. Young hands will take up the struggle for social justice, and new voices will sing them onward.

Thank you for the beautiful music, Mary. Rest in peace.