Rev. Robert

A sailor hat and a trenchcoat farewell
One side of the apartment dedicated to the shifting mood
A star, a mirror a pause to stare
If you owned the whole of Chelsea what would you change
Ha! misplaced your birthday? Or just your mother?
A camera in your pocket with the crumbs of a cigarette
Sweet youth with sweet lips where kisses explode
If you were the king of New York would you have a queen?
If you were the prince of Coney Island would you have your own Ferry
Or just sit on the shore and think of Demuth?
And what of rock and roll? what of love? what would you hold on to?
Crowns grow cold when not worn
Film cut in half and hair shorn short
Did you believe that when you walked into a room eyes moved?
Did they? Were you their sweet young thing?
How well read would you be if you didn't have that presence?
Your baby, your plunging sweetness
The girl who had the sweet tooth who nursed you
While you had your teeth removed
What did you have hidden in your room?
A secret promise and a safely hidden love
Someone whose shoulder you could tap and a smile would appear
Naked and laughing you learned how to spell a name
Did you think your sickness would transpire into art?
Frame it like you did your other maladies
Only this time use more colour, bring out flowers
Late last night creeping around the city's walls you finally understood
A girl with the trumpets and the violins who looks out to the stars
She understood too
The prince of Coney Island has plans for the future
And they are hidden in the best hiding places he can think of
Yet every now and then we see one lying on the pavement
Or being blown into the park
Drifting over and under the groins of men
Over and against the hats of women
He was a little boy once, curious and clear
Now he will be the man who understands the secret
Never to share it
Never to talk of it
He just stares at the reflection in the star shaped mirror
And pretends it is a photograph