April 25, 1994

I’ll settle for Immortality— Not thru the body     Not thru the eyes         Star spangled high mountains             waning moon over Aspen peaks; But thru words, thru the breath         of long sentences loves I have, heart beating         still, inspiration continuous, exhalation of         cadenced affection These immortal survive America,            survive the fall of States         Departure of my body,            mouth dumb dust This verse broadcasts desire,             accomplishment of Desire Now and forever boys can read             girls ream, old men cry Old women sigh             youth still come.

          7/19/92, Aspen

This article is part of The Nation’s 150th Anniversary Special Issue. Download a free PDF of the issue, with articles by James Baldwin, Barbara Ehrenreich, Toni Morrison, Howard Zinn and many more, here.

Allen Ginsberg (1926–1997) published three poems in The Nation in the 1990s. A 1959 letter to the editor he co-wrote is reprinted in this issue.