The world is a beautiful place <br />to be born into <br />if you don't mind happiness <br />not always being <br />so very much fun <br />if you don't mind a touch of hell <br />now and then <br />just when everything is fine <br />because even in heaven <br />they don't sing <br />all the time <br /> <br />The world is a beautiful place <br />to be born into <br />if you don't mind some people dying <br />all the time <br />or maybe only starving <br />some of the time <br />which isn't half bad <br />if it isn't you <br /> <br />Oh the world is a beautiful place <br />to be born into <br />if you don't much mind <br />a few dead minds <br />in the higher places <br />or a bomb or two <br />now and then <br />in your upturned faces <br />or such other improprieties <br />as our Name Brand society <br />is prey to <br />with its men of distinction <br />and its men of extinction <br />and its priests <br />and other patrolmen <br /> <br />and its various segregations <br />and congressional investigations <br />and other constipations <br />that our fool flesh <br />is heir to <br /> <br />Yes the world is the best place of all <br />for a lot of such things as <br />making the fun scene <br />and making the love scene <br />and making the sad scene <br />and singing low songs and having inspirations <br />and walking around <br />looking at everything <br />and smelling flowers <br />and goosing statues <br />and even thinking <br />and kissing people and <br />making babies and wearing pants <br />and waving hats and <br />dancing <br />and going swimming in rivers <br />on picnics <br />in the middle of the summer <br />and just generally <br />'living it up' <br />Yes <br />but then right in the middle of it <br />comes the smiling <br /> <br />mortician<br /><br />Lawrence Ferlinghetti<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/the-world-is-a-beautiful-place/
