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 toYes the world is the best place of all                                                           for a lot of such things as         making the fun scene                                                and making the love sceneand making the sad scene                                         and singing low songs of having                                                                                       inspirationsand walking around                                 looking at everything                                                                  and smelling flowersand 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 summerand just generally                            ‘living it up’Yes   but then right in the middle of it                                                    comes the smiling                                                                                 mortician

FromA Coney Island of the Mind, copyright © 1955 by Lawrence Ferlinghetti. Reprinted by permission of New Directions Publishing Corp.