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Ode to the Bronx
Ode to the Bronx.
Where are you, sons of Lenape?
How far away did they chase you?
Your fruit, to what extent crushed
Your offspring, without head or tail
Like aimless shuttle over a bed of wind
Or armless troubadours fixed in chants of long lost edifices
Of stories that were.
We cannot say of the Bronx,
But you take the lead, landlord Lenape.
And from the distant ends of Americas
Where you were swept to in your loss,
Hear me oh! Indian,
I sing to the Bronx and send forth this ebullition.
From the west of Van Cortland I write,
Elevated above your plains,
I see beyond the eyes,
Your wide vastness of neighborhoods and throngs.
Your motto abhors evil,
Northernmost of the five boroughs,
You have fought crime, poverty and decline
And set yourself on the path of undiminished growth.
From Mamba to hip hop,
You incubated popular culture,
And the chants of DJ Kool Herc
Born, never to die, will ring forever
Out of your 1520 Sedgwick
Oh! Boogie down Bronx.
Your firmament keeps ‘the home that Ruth built’
And the domicile of the great Yankees,
‘The Bronx, God bless them’
For you gave land to the Bronx River,
And carved alleys for its path
As it soaks the borough,
To empty its entrails into the mother East River.
The city Island, the Hart Island, the Rikers Island,
And our own Hutchinson River,
Named for Anne Hutchinson,
Are your landmarks of note.
An evening at the Ibiza lounge,
A show at the darling Lehman Arts centre
And some Magners Irish Cider at the Gleeson Sports Bar & Grill
With some vast lobster and shrimp munches at City Island
Would make my typical Bronx weekend
Then we used to go classical,
And see a movie or two, at the Bow Tie Cinemas.
Or be a little regular and stop over at Bay plaza cinema.
I would step out of the Edgar Allan Poe cottage, mellow and inspired,
The home in which Poe created “The Bells”, “Annabel Lee”, and “Eureka”
Draws me into the mind of a legend,
And there is no bit of ennui within your walls.
You welcome merchants too
And house established shopping districts,
Fordham road, our bay plaza, the hub, Riverdale, Kingsbridge stores, and Brucknor Blvd
Would fill any shopping truck.
Having been your tenant for these years,
At various spots in the hollow of your home,
I have yielded to your coffers too
And done my part in building our Bronx,
Have walked through your courts of justice
And tended to your sick……….
From Throggs Neck to Fieldstone Lodge,
From Bronx Park through Workman’s circle to Pelham Parkway,
In my days, I had stepped into each and every one of those homes
Spreading nursing care, and raking in dollar bills.
You have hid me well O! Bronx,
From the sniper and the addict
From the burglar and the corps
From growing teenagers and sidewalk gangs
From your bills and taxes
I have emerged, well acquainted with daunting vagaries.
Give me these few, very few days again
As I close shop and round off business in you,
That my sojourn in the Bronx,
Nice, eventful and cozy as has been
Would remain etched in my mind and the words,
Come!! Attend yourself to my departure,
Bronx that I call mine.
