Niel Brooks

Nighttime Gals

They waltzed a crack in the sidewalk
Through the low side of town
And took the light up to Euclid
And back around.
Where there's no sleep for the lonely
Just frozen wings on a song,
And a shadow of nothing behind the dawn.

Sometimes in the summer
When the moon is a pearl
Across the city like diamonds
Go the Nighttime Girls.

With little white horses,
And his shoes painted red,
Saint John the Revelator
At the foot of the bed;
He's got his hands on a window
And it's cold as a stone,
He's singing "Hey La-di-da-di,
My Girlfriend's Gone."

Maryann at The Mission,
Sits by Father Mouldaire,
And burns like leather
On an electric-chair.