I Want to Live Until I'm Too Old to Dance

I want to live until I'm too old to dance,
like a fountain that's bubbled its last drops,
let me flow--
into an ocean, into the sea.

I want to live until my skin
has wrinkled and my hair
has grayed into a fifty-cent piece
with John F. Kennedy
still smiling.

I want to live until I creak
when I walk
and I'll walk all over the Universe
singing "We shall overcome!"
while my lungs burst
like a glycerin bubble.

Let's bubble ourselves
all over and live forever
as we sail in a sieve
gone to sea.

November 22, 2006