New Orleans (2000)

Summer was starting to fade when we visited
Air humidly warm, with showers when needed

Place seems to be deserted, unlike ours

So crisp and clean, surely you used giant vacuums.

Friendly, cool, relaxed, especially the blacks

So friendly, that we're now one of them

Jokes and laughter come out of the blue

So lively, they hum and sway all day.

Went to Riverwalk, for the scene and the food

Plantations, museums, history so rich, a war so pitiful

Casinos, I can't understand where the money comes from

Night time at Bourbon Street, booze, jazz, and strip in the air. 

What a place. Wish I live, lay, and be laid here.
I had to move. The day I left, I woke from a dream.

Oh no! Orleanians, you had me but no more

You gloss everything, drunkards, gamblers, and strippers.

Yes, no place is everyplace, have to move someplace

Erehwon will always be a place far far away.

           

- William T. Co