Before I go to India,
Before I go to France,
I wonder can I ask you if you and I can dance,
If maybe I can ask you to kiss me on the face,
Even though I haven’t been to any place.
Before I go to Russia,
Before I go to die,
I wonder for a moment if you and I can try
To simply be together, and touch hands, and dance,
Before I go to India,
Before I go to France.
Before I go to London
With its mists and its rain,
I wonder before I go, if I can pick your brain,
Is poetry simple?
Or diplomacy insane?
Before I go to London
To learn the language of Peru,
Is there anything here that I need to do,
Before princes and ambassadors tell me false from true?
Before I go to Mexico,
Before Hanoi’s rivers call,
Is there something you and I can do that’s meaningless and small,
A kiss on the lips, without worldliness at all?
Before I go to school
By holy rivers’ banks,
Shall I bend my knee here and give my country thanks?
Shall I gaze at the sky that’s always the same,
Before I board the ship and play the waiting game?
Before you learn your trade
Which lies about lies,
Will you scorn innocence and sever all your ties?
Or will you take my hand, and learn how to dance,
Before I go to India,
Before I go to France?
