i m an old man now and a lonesome man in kansas but not afraid to speak my lonesomeness in a car because not only my lonesomeness it s ours all over america o tender fellows spoken lonesomeness is prophecy in the moon 100 years ago or in the middle of kansas now it s not the vast plains mute our mouths that fill at midnite with ecstatic language when our trembling bodies hold each other breast to breast on a mattress not the empty sky that hides the feeling from our faces nor our skirts and trousers that conceal the bodylove emanating in a glow of beloved skin white smooth abdomen down to the hair between our legs it s not a god that bore us that forbid our being like a sunny rose all red with naked joy between our eyes bellies yes all we do is for this frightened thing we call love want and lack fear that we aren t the one whose body could be beloved of all the brides of kansas city kissed all over by every boy of wichita o but how many in their solitude weep aloud like me on the bridge over republican river almost in tears to know how to speak the right language on the frosty broad road uphill between highway embankments i search for the language that is also yours almost all our language has been taxed by war radio antennae high tension wires ranging from junction city across the plains highway cloverleaf sunk in a vast meadow lanes curving past abilene to denver filled with old heroes of love to wichita where mcclure s mind burst into animal beauty drunk getting laid in a car in a neon misted street 15 years ago to independence where the old man s still alive who loosed the bomb that s slaved all human consciousness and made the body universe a place of fear now speeding along the empty plain no giant demon machine visible on the horizon but tiny human trees and wooden houses at the sky s edge i claim my birthright reborn forever as long as man in kansas or other universe joy reborn after the vast sadness of war gods a lone man talking to myself no house in the brown vastness to hear imaging the throng of selves that make this nation one body of prophecy languaged by declaration as pursuit of happiness i call all powers of imagination to my side in this auto to make prophecy all lords of human kingdoms to come shambu bharti baba naked covered with ash khaki baba fat bellied mad with the dogs dehorahava baba who moans oh how wounded how wounded sitaram onkar das thakur who commands give up your desire satyananda who raises two thumbs in tranquillity kali pada guha roy whose yoga drops before the void shivananda who touches the breast and says om srimata krishnaji of brindaban who says take for your guru william blake the invisible father of english visions sri ramakrishna master of ecstasy eyes half closed who only cries for his mother chaitanya arms upraised singing dancing his own praise merciful chango judging our bodies durga ma covered with blood destroyer of battlefield illusions million faced tathagata gone past suffering preserver harekrishna returning in the age of pain sacred heart my christ acceptable allah the compassionate one jaweh righteous one all knowledge princes of earth man all ancient seraphim of heavenly desire devas yogis holymen i chant to come to my lone presence into this vortex named kansas i lift my voice aloud make mantra of american language now i here declare the end of the war ancient days illusion and pronounce words beginning my own millennium let the states tremble let the nation weep let congress legislate its own delight let the president execute his own desire this act done by my own voice nameless mystery published to my own senses blissfully received by my own form approved with pleasure by my sensations manifestation of my very thought accomplished in my own imagination all realms within my consciousness fulfilled 60 miles from wichita near el dorado the golden one in chill earthly mist houseless brown farmland plains rolling heavenward in every direction one midwinter afternoon sunday called the day of the lord pure spring water gathered in one tower where florence is set on a hill stop for tea gas 