Talent

[HOLLIS]
When I was a tyke
I said, "What I like
Is art
I know I'm a boy
But what I enjoy
Is art"

Looking at paintings, going to plays
Music and books informing my days
Filling my mind
Flooding my heart
With art!

I had this dream of becoming an artist—
A painter, a poet, who knows?
I had a nice little talent for drawing
And a natural feeling for prose
I even began to compose

So many talents
Wasn't I blessed!
All of them good
A few of them better
None of them best

Just enough talent to know
That I hadn't the talent
So I put my dream
And my self-esteem
To rest

[ADDISON, spoken]
That must have been difficult.

[HOLLIS, spoken]
Yes. But it didn't matter. I merely had to find out what I was meant to be.

(sung)
I couldn't decide
Then one day I spied
Palm Beach
A speck on the map
No more than a gap
Palm Beach

Jungle and seashore, muddy and raw
But in a flash I suddenly saw
What it would take
What I could make
Palm Beach!

I had this dream of a city of artists
Versailles by the Florida sea
A sort of world congregation of artists
All encouraged to set themselves free
I knew what I wanted to be!

I'd be their host and supporter
The patron saint
Of the things that they'd write
And compose and paint
I shall wander among them with lavish praise
As they carve their statues
Construct their plays
Design their buildings
Recite their rhymes
Making modern art
Fit for modern times—!

So many talents
Gathered en masse!
Painters and poets
Artists and dreamers
Watered like grass

And if the talent I have
Is for nurturing talent
Then succeed or fail
I will see they sail
First-class

And my father can go stick it up his ass