Far Arden Summary

The two-and-a-half-page poem entitled "Far Arden" tells the story of Morrison and friends being swept away in the middle of the night by an old man and taken to a beautiful beach where naked lovers dance, and the oldest couple bids the younger ones to choose a lover. He calls the leaders of the celebration the King and Queen, and longs to be in that beautiful, erotic place again.

Two poems follow that use birds as their primary symbols. The first tells about a knife that has been stolen, and a snake that has been killed, and Morrison calls himself the death bird. In the next, a phrase from "Ghost Song" appears in the context of Morrison's prayer to a bird of pray flying overhead. He asks if he is going to die, and references the Indian scattered on the highway...