H e a r t S o n s & H e a r t D a u g h t e r s of A l l e n G i n s b e r g

N a p a l m H e a l t h S p a : R e p o r t 2 0 1 4 : A r c h i v e s E d i t i o n

STEVEN HIRSCH

The Ancients

They carried through the changes, so that the people did what was required of them,

without being wearied.

When a series of changes has run all its course, another change ensues.

They hollowed out trees to form canoes; they cut others long and thin to make oars.

They used oxen in carts and yoked horses to chariots, thus providing for the carriage of

what was heavy, and for distant journeys, thereby benefiting all under the sky.

They made the double gates and the warning of the clapper, as a preparation against

the approach of marauding visitors.

They cut wood and fashioned it into pestles; they dug in the ground and formed mortars.

They bent wood by means of string, so as to form bows, and sharpened wood so as to make

arrows.

They made their homes in caves and in summer dwelt in the open country.

When the ancients buried their dead, they covered the body thickly with wood,

having laid it in the open country.

They raised no mound over it, nor planted trees around; nor had they any fixed period

for mourning.

In the highest antiquity, government was carried on successfully by the use of knotted
cords to preserve the memory of things.

Thus, what we call the I is a collection of images.

They are styled symbolic as being resemblances.