FERLINGHETTI'S ‘ALLEN GINSBERG DYING’

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Here is Lawrence Ferlinghetti, who died yesterday at the age of 101, reading “Allen Ginsberg Dying, his powerful anticipatory elegy upon the imminent death of Allen Ginsberg in 1997. Watch Ferlinghetti as he leans forward to conclude the poem with his friend’s first name. I can’t get the final lines out of my head:

I am reading Greek poetry

The sea is in it

Horses weep in it

The horses of Achilles

weep in it

here by the sea

in San Francisco

where the waves weep

they make a sibilant sound

a sibylline sound

Allen

they whisper

Allen

Both Ferlinghetti and Ginsberg were strongly influenced by Buddhism, and you can feel in “Allen Ginsberg Dying” the influence of the Zen teaching that you must acknowledge the reality of mortality in order to fully embrace existence. Both late poets are right here in this elegy.

Here’s my own elegy for Ginsberg, from In Praise of Manhattan.

David M. Katz

Elegy for A.G.

First thought best thought, the master said,

Cross-legged by a roaring fire.

Where’s Allen now? Among the dead.

Spit out each thought that’s in your head.

Beware the censor and the liar.

First thought best thought, the master said,

Wearing a body and looking well fed,

Touching the lute and plucking the lyre.

Where’s Allen now? Among the dead.

He cuts a slice of thick brown bread, 

Yet speaks of silencing desire.

First thought best thought, the master said,

Nodding to me to go ahead

Without the members of the choir.

Where’s Allen now? Among the dead,

Where every thought must go unsaid.

It’s time to say what I require.

First thought best thought, the master said.

Where’s Allen now? Among the dead.


Photo Credit: "Happy Birthday Lawrence Ferlinghetti" by Christopher.Michel is licensed under CC BY 2.0