Reflections on a Gone City by James Watson

Reflections on a Gone City

by James Watson

Oh Mister San Fransisco

you are so far gone now

your laser lit eyes

& your golden gated back

stain my brain with desire

to walk the sparkling streets

of your embracing midnight

Oh Mister San Fransisco

you are so drunk

wallowing in the liquor-filled

sidewalk puddles

of your consciousness

underneath bridges

& through long tunnels

to poppy-seed pastry shops

Oh Mister San Fransisco

you are so beautiful

elegantly clothed

in a filthy thought

of an Alcatraz dawn

fading city lights

of beat generations

that were starving naked

Oh Mister San Fransisco

I cannot revive you

from this gutter

wretched-bleeding admist a

Height- Ashbury memory

that I never had

Oh Mister San Fransisco

you are a ridiculous old man

muttering streetcar blues

by a Chinatown pizza shop

of scarred veins and trains

of thought-oblivious

to my wanderings

And Oh Mister San Fransisco

you are so far gone now

unmoved in my mind

still-silent

and I know your tide

rises and falls

regardless of my presence