46th and 1st

"Give me your hungry, your tired, your poor.
I'll piss on em."
That's what the Statue of Bigotry says.
"Your poor huddled masses, let's club em to death"--
And get it over with.
And just dump em on the Boulevard.

Outside it's a bright night.
There's an opera at Lincoln Center.
Movie stars arrive by limousine.
The klieg lights shoot up over the skyline of Manhattan,
But the lights are out on the mean streets.

A small kid stands by the Lincoln Tunnel
He's selling plastic roses for a buck.
The traffic's backed up to 39th Street
The TV whores are calling the cops out for a suck.

And back at the Wilshire, Pedro sits there dreaming,
He's found a book on magic in a garbage can.
He looks at the pictures and stares at the cracked ceiling
"At the count of 3" he says, "I hope I can disappear."

And fly fly away . . .

-- Lou Reed, "Dirty Boulevard"