Sprawled over a history of ghosts Like a fat gypsy selling her wares Past North Beach and the Waterfront Past the streets of Nob Hill Across the Embarcadero Down to Fisherman's Wharf And the nervous smell of Chinatown But alas it's no good Her children have left for Sacramento and places further North Her pulse is dying straining against The wounds of refugees Hiding their faces in the geography Of her sores and blemishes The ghost of the Barbary Coast Playland and the Alcazar Theater Hangs heavy in the air Lefty O'Doul is dead Ping Bodie is dead Jack London and Steinbeck Gone the way of the old Black Cat The city of king and jazz Reduced to a cold monument Like a pair of aging six guns Rusting in a frontier museum