
...a beautiful place IF... [LF 19-21]
by: Paul Ivey
uploaded: 02/23/2021
notes:
The World is a Beautiful Place
by Lawrence Ferlinghetti
March 24, 1919 - February 22, 2021
- a brighter light amongst many in my sad city -
The world is a beautiful place
to be born into
if you don’t mind happiness
not always
being
so very much fun
if you don’t mind a touch of hell
now
and then
just when everything is fine
because even in heaven
they don’t sing
all
the time
The world is a beautiful place
to be born into
if you don’t mind some people dying
all the time
or maybe only starving
some of the time
which isn’t half so bad
if it
isn’t you
Oh the world is a beautiful place
to
be born into
if you don’t much mind
a few
dead minds
in the higher places
or a
bomb or two
now and then
in your
upturned faces
or such other improprieties
as our
Name Brand society
is prey to
with its men
of distinction
and its men of extinction
and its
priests
and other patrolmen
and
its various segregations
and congressional investigations
and other constipations
that our fool flesh
is heir
to
Yes the world is the best place of all
for a lot of such things as
making the fun scene
and making
the love scene
and making the sad scene
and singing low
songs of having
inspirations
and walking around
looking at everything
and smelling flowers
and goosing statues
and even thinking
and
kissing people and
making babies and wearing pants
and
waving hats and
dancing
and going
swimming in rivers
on picnics
in the middle of the
summer
and just generally
‘living it up’
Yes
but then right in the middle of it
comes
the smiling
mortician
(From A Coney Island of the Mind
Copyright ©1955 by Lawrence Ferlinghetti)
Tagses: (we can link these up later)
Link to the mp3 file:
...a beautiful place IF... [LF 19-21]
Link to this view of the song:
http://songaday.netscrap.com/songs/?scrap_id=5808&scrap_category=45