On The Seat

Lady killers walkin, struttin their stuff
I'm lookin on from my retreat
I've heard those lady killers can play kinda rough
wish there was one I could meet
Lately in the evening I cruise on by
But I've surrendered any thoughts of ever giving them a try
and I doubt they could ever take the heat
Of this grueling life on the seat

Lonely tourist cameras hangin from the necks
of full fledged world travelers from Rome
Got all the balances, passed all the checks
How else could they be so far from home
But life always happens, no matter the cost
You'll pay any price to avoid being lost
So you hop into a yellow car with a man knows the street
Its a God Damned lousy life on the seat

Halloween is wild night, costumes for the Queens
make-up and paper bags for those of lesser means
Park Avenue and Amsterdam go their separate ways
the lonely kid who drank too much is the only one who pays
with unreported income, the Policemen's Gala treat
Just check your soul and uniform and come cruising on the seat

Miles of city streets go rolling by each day
Towers view the suburbs from aloft
second story windows blow those sights away
showing me reality....so soft
I hold my position, I gamble not to lose
I keep my car in drive always set to cruise
like a keystone cop I'm on the beat
I love it, on the seat

(c) Terence Gelber 1991
All rights reserved

Trying

Gimme a reason, hold back the crime
Hallow the season, precious the time
I spend in your absence, dedicate in your name
pondering glory, to eradicate fame

Merry the worker outside the shop
Happy the farmer away from the crop
taunted the teacher, school books in hand
denies passing failure when he roamed the raw land
as the actor of record in the minds game of chance
clinging to snapshots of his dignified stance

Of this you will teach me??? Or remind your cold heart?!
In the days once so splendid when you were a part
Of your world and time, the critical juncture
Fighting times dagger aiming to puncture
the myth we create in a sphere well controlled
Salutations and virtues expertly extolled

I live for the moment until it is gone
carrying torches, I'm forced to go on
by the fires of venture, the pilot of faith
which carries me closer as some lie in wait
for the chapter unwritten, the verse still unturned
the bank note still crumbled, respect still unearned
Yet, in rapture life wanders, remorse is decried
Screw down the lid and mumble "I tried".

(c) Terence Gelber All rights reserved
4/30/2010

Yellow Cab

Yellow Cab

Checker car, of yellow tone
befriended and driven by on man alone
For municipal need you traveled quickly
With butcher, baker, strong and sickly

Beneath your duties shining light
endowed with your seats now timeless sight
you hold your memories of situations
well delivered generations
who hold for you infatuations
in awe of your life of destinations

Checker car, where have you been
what escapades were logged, then seen
share tales from the heart that within you beat
as you rolled the length of each cobbled street

And of new born babes beneath your roof
debutantes, reserved, aloof
Physicians, counselors, cops and robbers
the sly, the slick the high hob-knobbers
What clergy-man have blessed the ride
as down the great white way you'd glide
with actors, teachers, students all
of your city's life
through rise and fall

Speak to us this final day
of how you polished the Apple along the way
tell us of friend and foe alike
from down each lane
along each pike
of battles and injuries suffered therein
confide in us of your grace, and sin

In your yellow world of yellow thought
how many rides have you thrown and caught?
Checker taxi on the stand
Checker taxi ever grand
Here at last where all meters cease
Checker taxi rest in peace

(c) Terence Gelber all rights reserved