Wildflower

In a tenement near the Henry Hudson River

From my favorite spot on a rusting fire escape

I would look below.

And see Mario

Braving the ferocious dandelions

Mario, our fearless superintendent

Kept the garden green, despite the parkway smog

But the flowering weeds

Their fates decreed

Pulled, to keep his rosebush from dying

Then I would creep inside, curl up in my bed

Something strong was pulling at my head

Pulling at my heart

Wild flower, growing in all the wrong places

Wild flower, so lonely 'neath that lovely rose bush

Proper garden's nightmare, queen of opened fields

Tell me, who will love this wildflower

For exactly what she is?

Years passed by, we left that red brick building

Left Mario behind

For a brand new house

But my dark brown skin

On the white washed walls within

Stood out, so it'd get me up and cryin'

My growing pains had many rooms to fill, then

Mother never know

..Had a garden to keep clean

While there was NY grease

On her young flower from the Middle East

She was busy pulling dendelions

Then I would creep inside, curl up in my bed

Something strong was pulling at my head

Pulling at my heart

Wild flower, growing in all the wrong places

Wild flower, so lowly 'neath that lovely rosebush

Proper garden's nightmare, queen of opened fields

Tell me, who will love this wildflower

For exactly what she is?