There stood the trio singing:
Peter, Paul, & Mary;
But now her voice is stilled
So two must now her bury.
She brought her heartfelt harmony
As a blond, coffee-house, rover
Singing, “All My Trials, Lord.”
For her they now be over.
Pete Seger, Arlo, and Joan Baez
Preachers with guitar in hand;
Folksingers, prophets, poets for sure
Sang for Justice “all over this land.”
I would sit on my bed and listen
To their vinyl spinning tunes
And play along with my guitar
On lonely Sunday afternoons.
She’s now with Puff, the dragon,
Who lived down by the sea;
Mary frolics in the autumn mist
In a land called Hona-Lee.
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Poem by Steven J. Pedersen in tribute to Mary Travers who died on Wednesday 9/16/09.
I learned to play guitar by listening to every Peter, Paul and Mary record I could find. I would lock myself in my room for hours on Sunday afternoons. But I think the words to the folk songs and the poetry in them shaped my life early on in my pre-teen years. It is amazing what matrix of material God uses to form us! A big piece of American Folk tradition has gone with Mary’s passing.
