Notes on Neophyte
An ogre goes with every rose,
a bee sting guards the honey.
Immortality must disclose
Endless death. The sunny
youth sets forth a lunar wrinkle.
Poetry runs from pros,
Tibetan gongs make little tinkle
to Buddha's silent nose.
Why do brazen bearded dogs
Guard the Gates of Heaven?
Why do Angels make such fogs
around the Highest Seven?
Because the hells of Paradise
Make all Creation even,
God keeps adding to his eyes
to watch the outside Heathen.
O What an ocean! whoever seeks
the land of illumination:
That is to say, the life boat leaks,
hunger is theration,
thirst is the First and only water;
There is no salvation,
Eternity gets shorter & shorter
To finish its Creation!
Allen Ginseberg, Indian Journals 1970