Flower Power

      The term flower power was used in a poem by Allen Ginsberg in 1965 a probable source for the term. The hippies were also to be known as the flower children.It has been 43 years since thousands of young people gathered in San Francisco's Haight-Ashbury district to share what came to be known as the "Summer of Love." It introduced the rest of the country to flower children and free love, protests and drugs. San Francisco during the Summer of Love were filled with the sounds of bells, the fragrance of incense, lots of beads, fringe vests, paisley and, of course, music.

“I have seen the best minds of my generation destroyed by madness,”

 Allen Ginsberg The Howl

   The world was spinning out of control and everyone was angry about something. Vietnam war,black rights,womans rights,free love and assassinations. More changes probably took place in American society during the 1960's than in any other decade of the 20th century. Of all the events of those years, perhaps none more  important than Woodstock Music and Arts Festival, held in Bethel, NY, in mid August of 1969.

Woodstock 

Age of Aquarious 
 

Links to Woodstock and other Trippy Sites
Haight Ashbury
Woodstock
Summer of Love 
Allen Ginsberg 
Summer of Love Memories 
Woodstock Retrospective

Wish I Was A Punk Rocker 



More Flower Power

Ah! Sunflower William Blake

Ah! sunflower, weary of time,
Who countest the steps of the sun,
Seeking after that sweet golden clime
Where the traveller’s journey is done;

Where the youth pined away with desire,
And the pale virgin shrouded in snow,
Arise from their graves and aspire;
Where my sunflower wishes to go. 

Song of The Flower

Kahlil Gibran 

I am a kind word uttered and repeated

By the voice of Nature;

I am a star fallen from the

Blue tent upon the green carpet.

I am the daughter of the elements

With whom Winter conceived;

To whom Spring gave birth; I was

Reared in the lap of Summer and I 

Slept in the bed of Autumn.

At dawn I unite with the breeze

To announce the coming of light;

At eventide I join the birds

In bidding the light farewell. 

The plains are decorated with
My beautiful colors, and the air

Is scented with my fragrance.
As I embrace Slumber the eyes of

Night watch over me, and as I

Awaken I stare at the sun, which is

The only eye of the day.
I drink dew for wine, and hearken to
The voices of the birds, and dance
To the rhythmic swaying of the grass.

I am the lover's gift; I am the wedding wreath;
I am the memory of a moment of happiness;
I am the last gift of the living to the dead;
I am a part of joy and a part of sorrow.

But I look up high to see only the light,
And never look down to see my shadow.
This is wisdom which man must learn.