Shangri-la

All I want to do right now

is go to Shangri-la

in Yanceyville

and lie on my back in the grass between the white quartz buildings

in the darkness of early nighttime

and feel the rain on my face.

Then the pouring rain

will turn the ground to soft mud

and I will sink into it

inside the earth,

forever a part of a miniature world

that means peace

and simplicity

in a world of highways.

The stone that has sat at the foot of the sign

in the front of the little village

for over thirty years

says "Let me live in a house by the side of the road and be a friend to man."

That stone

will be my tombstone

because when I am dead

I want to live in a house

by the side of the road

and be a friend to man.

I don't know, that's just how I'm feeling right now.