A song for Pete Seeger

Editor’s note: Mike Glick is a singer song writer and friend of Pete Seeger who said “he was one of the best song writer’s going.”

Ah Pete, I somehow thought you were like the Sequoia

And that your roots would just get deeper and stronger and keep on growing

You sheltered us and your many branches nurtured us, making us a home and a growing community

You stood – and still stand (always) for every decent, kind and caring impulse of the American people

The desire for fair play, a chance for a better life for all, a celebration of our differences and similarities

Quintessentially American, your message still carried to all parts of the world

Even as I once brought your words and their message of peace and friendship in a small cassette to friends at a festival of song in Calcutta

They carried such meaning to people half way around the globe, these “children” of Satyajit Ray – as we are all your “children”

You were, and are our Mandela – our shining light to point the way

And your roots will continue to grow and spread farther and deeper

With More love, More peace, More freedom, More justice

And as the journey deepens and grows

“Precious friend, you will be there” Siempre y Presente!

Photo: Pete Seeger, center, Bruce Springsteen, right, and Seeger’s grandson Tao Seeger, perform during the ” We Are One: Opening Inaugural Celebration at the Lincoln Memorial” in Washington, Jan. 18, 2009. Carolyn Kaster/AP