Whether standing on the stoop
as a teen
or lounging in the parlor
in bobby socks and cotton dress
she'd listen to women
coo and moan upstairs
to paying men filing in
One by one
Her bird song
melancholy for life
Sometime
she'd use a straight razor
to keep their hands off
New York City beckoned her later on
Late nights
speak easys
her melancholy song paid well
men came and went
no solace
the liquor and needles were solace
at times
but still melancholy remained in her song
in clubs
this spotlight of her flower
was a beacon in her hair
hushed patrons in the dark
heard her last melancholy song
once a voluptuous woman
wasted to gauntness
and gapped stares
missing words in her melancholy song