It's coming to America first, The cradle of the best and of the worst. It's here they got the range And the machinery for change And it's here they got the spiritual thirst. It's here the family's broken And it's here the lonely say That the heart has got to open In a fundamental way: Democracy is coming to the U.S.A. O mighty Ship of State! To the Shores of Need Past the Reefs of Greed Through the Squalls of Hate Sail on, sail on.

She was made of flesh and eyelashes.

At the very center of our culture is a crucified man, a tortured man hanging on a cross of wood. You have an image of violence at the very center of our spiritual investigation.

I can work on a verse for a very long time before realising it's not any good and then, and only then, can I discard it.

I've forgotten most of what I've read and, frankly, it never seemed very important to me or to the world.

I am an old scholar, better-looking now than when I was young. That's what sitting on your ass does to your face.

I alwaysthought of myself as a competent, minor poet. I know who I'm up against.