City Lights Publishers | 1955
Just as I used to say / love comes harder to the aged / because they've been running / on the same old rails too long / and then when the sly switch comes along / they miss the turn / and burn up the wrong rail while / the gay caboose goes flying / and the steamengine driver don't recognize / them new electric horns / and the aged run out on the rusty spur / which ends up in / the dead grass where / the rusty tincans and bedsprings and old razor / blades and moldy mattresses lie / and the rail breaks off dead / right there / though the ties go on awhile / and the aged / say to themselves / Well / this must be the place / we were supposed to lie down / And they do / while the bright saloon careens along away / on a high / hilltop / its windows full of bluesky and lovers / with flowers / their long hair streaming / and all of them laughing / and waving and / whispering to each other / and looking out and / wondering what that graveyard / where the rail end / is
Lawrence Ferlinghetti
1919 - 2021