Prayer is translation. A man translates himself into a child asking for all there is in a language he has barely mastered.

To every people the land is given on condition. Perceived or not, there is a Covenant, beyond the constitution, beyond sovereign guarantee, beyond the nation's sweetest dreams of itself.

And I had not much of a voice. I didn't play that great guitar either.

And most people have a woman in their heart, most men have a woman in their heart and most women have a man in their heart.

I always felt I was scraping the bottom of the barrel trying to get a song together.

I can work on a verse for a very long time before realising it's not any good and then, and only then, can I discard it.

I don't really understand that process called reincarnation but if there is such a thing I'd like to come back as my daughter's dog.

I had the title poet, and maybe I was one for a while. Also, the title singer was kindly accorded me, even though I could barely carry a tune.

I never really liked poetry readings; I liked to read poetry by myself, but I liked singing, chanting my lyrics to this jazz group.

I was 15 when I first became deeply touched by the rhythm and structure of words.

If I knew where the good songs came from, I'd go there more often.

Journalists, especially English journalists, were very cruel to me. They said I only knew three chords when I knew five!

My sense of proprietorship has been so weak that actually I didn't pay attention and I lost the copyrights on a lot of the songs.

My two great heroes are W. B. Yeats and Fernando Garcia Lorca.

As a young man, Yeats spoke to me in a way I could understand. Shakespeare I couldn't understand, but Yeats I could. It was his subject matter and also I really admired the way he put his personal life on the line.

This is the most challenging activity that humans get into, which is love. You know, where we have the sense that we can't live without love. That life has very little meaning without love.

Most of the time one is discouraged by the work, but now and again by some grace something stands out and invites you to work on it, to elaborate it or animate it in some way. It's a mysterious process.

Any startling piece of work has a subversive element in it, a delicious element often. Subversion is only disagreeable when it manifests in political or social activity.

I always thought that poetry is the verdict that others give to a certain kind of writing. So to call yourself a poet is a kind of dangerous description. It's for others; it's for others to use.

I think the term poet is a very exalted term and should be applied to a man at the end of his work. When he looks back over the body of his work and he's written poetry then let the verdict be that he's a poet.