Lawrence Ferlinghetti Poems

The world is a beautiful place
to be born into
if you don't mind happiness
not always being
...

I am waiting for my case to come up
and I am waiting
for a rebirth of wonder
and I am waiting
...

Constantly risking absurdity
and death
whenever he performs
above the heads
...

Sometime during eternity
some guys show up
and one of them
who shows up real late
...

Don't let that horse
         eat that violin
cried Chagall's mother
...

There's a breathless hush on the freeway tonight
Beyond the ledges of concrete
restaurants fall into dreams
with candlelight couples
...

It was a face which darkness could kill
in an instant
a face as easily hurt
by laughter or light
...

Night closed my windows and
The sky became a crystal house
The crystal windows glowed
The moon
...

I didn’t get much sleep last night
thinking about underwear
Have you ever stopped to consider
underwear in the abstract
...

Poets, come out of your closets,
Open your windows, open your doors,
You have been holed-up too long
in your closed worlds.
...