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…

Wildflower, growing in all the wrong places
Wildflower, so lowly neath that lovely rosebush
Proper garden's nightmare, queen of open 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 knew
Had a garden to keep clean
While there was N.Y. Grease
On the young flower from the Middle East
She was busy pulling dandelions

Then I would creep inside, curl up in my bed
Something strong was pulling at my head
Pulling at my heart…

Wildflower, growing in all the wrong places
Wildflower, so lowly 'neath that lovely rosebush
Proper garden's nightmare, queen of open fields
Tell me, who will love this wildflower
For exactly what she is?