Song

Allen Ginsberg

Song

The weight of the world
   is love.
Under the burden
   of solitude,
under the burden 
   of dissatisfaction

   the weight,
the weight we carry
   is love.

Who can deny?
   In dreams
it touches
   the body,
in thought
   constructs
a miracle,
   in imagination
anguishes
   till born
in human---

looks out of the heart
   burning with purity---
for the burden of life
   is love,

but we carry the weight
   wearily,
and so must rest
in the arms of love
   at last,
must rest in the arms 
   of love.

No rest
   without love,
no sleep
   without dreams
of love---
   be mad or chill
obsessed with angels
  or machines,
the final wish
   is love
---cannot be bitter,
   cannot deny,
cannot withhold
   if denied:

the weight is too heavy

   ---must give
for no return
   as thought
is given
   in solitude
an all the excellence
   of its excess.

The warm bodies
   shine together
in the darkness,
   the hand moves
to the center
   of the flesh,
the skin trembles
   in happiness
and the soul comes
   joyful to the eye---

yes,yes
   that´s what
I wanted,
   I always wanted,
I always wanted
   to return
to the body
   where I was born.

        San Jose, 1954