Let me live as I was born to live ...
Let me live as I was born to live * * * *
I will be a jester in the court of King Life.
I will rattle my bells until their sound frightens me
And I hide under the royal couch.
I will waste years in trying to find a process to
Hammer gold out of the rainbow,
Hunt whales on the great Sahara desert
And dive to the bottom of the ocean in search for camels.
I will wear out my life climbing a mountain
And when I am sitting on the top,
I will look back and sing praises of the valley
Which I did not see while I was in it
For looking up the mountain.
I will chant my desire to return to the valley,
But I will not go, if Hell freezes.
I will drop toads into all the high silk hats I can find,
Set a bare-rumped harlot on a pedestal and worship her,
Put on blankets and feathers and pretend to be an Indian
When company comes.
I will drag a girl to my couch, handle her genitals until
She catches fire, and then when it is all over,
I will glare and say, You strumpet, you have betrayed me.
I will toil for years to build up a fortune
Which I will then trade for a telescope on a whim.
And I will weary of this in a moment and give it
To a blind beggar and all men will sing of my generosity.
I will weep because Lazarus died and immediately
Thereafter, pass a freezing beggar on the street.
When I am wealthy I will scrape and save
And when I am penniless I will borrow from usurers
And throw the coins to the birds.
I will laugh and sing because of lone gone Yesterdays,
And will see no glory in Today or Tomorrow.
I will store up matches to start fires in Hell,
And die protecting a whore’s virginity.
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Note: * * * *The line of asterisks appears as published in Collected Letters, presumably as Howard wrote it.