Where Have All the Flowers Gone?

Where have all the flowers gone…

And where does the tic/toc of my clock go when it has done its momentary job? And words, once spoken, where do they go? Do they merely continue to send a message of the passage of time, or of a mind’s thought, the heart’s longing to be in relationship, or to change the world, to write a perfect poem or to make at least an imperfect apology…

Simon and Garfunkel’s melody and questions continue to haunt me since we, too, are experiencing so much war and violence, like unto the war they sing about as the sad answer to their probing question, “Where have all the flowers gone?” Indeed, “Long time passing…long time ago.” And the question still remains: “When will we ever learn? When will we ever learn?”

Where do waves go once they hit the shoreline? Or what happens to the snowflakes when they melt? Or a rainbow when it can no longer be seen? What happens to our memories when death comes?

“When will we ever learn? When will we ever learn?”

“Where, indeed, have all the flowers gone?” The beloved victims of our sad wars, our lack of love and cherishing of life over death? And when will we ever learn that those lovely flowers may be decorating the graves of legendary people like JFK, RFK, MLK, Jr., or our century’s victims of war, trafficking, abortion, starvation, injustice, and crime.

When will we ever learn? When will we ever learn?

Renée Domeier, OSB