II.
Base people!
How I dislike you!
Some of you have come from Park Avenue,
Almost as you might go slumming.
Some of you have come from the suburbs,
Almost as you might go to heaven.
From Greenwich Village there are a few of you;
God alone knows why you have come.
And perhaps there are in your midst
A few incredible two-headed beings
From that mythical land of horrors,
Hoboken.
Also the traveling salesmen, mainly Hebraic;
And the wide-eyed yokels from the little villages of Illinois;
And the two young men-about-town
Conscious of their new evening-clothes;
And the three ladies
Who are trying to pick up someone for the night.
And the music,—Oh Christ and Mohammed and Buddha, the music!
... Base people!
How I dislike you!
Do you know why I have come here?
It will not interest you; nevertheless, I tell you—
I have come here to be alone.