The old names that I used to know
Roll out no more, like curtains old
Like a theatre in the lesser days
When more was sung in older ways

As I sit here in the mirror room
With lenses quiet as a tomb
Just to think of names I once had seen
Alive, a thread, in poetry seems

Would'ya close the curtain, lock the doors?
And stoke the candles inside no more?
Because the poets heart is quiet when
He life is brightest in the eyes of men

So be it showmanship deceived
Would you show me the name of a friend indeed?
And I'll read and read until bygone age
Until all the lenses have passed away

And the stars become the only screen
Where the heights of poetry
And the shallow depths of the human soul
Can be ere seen

For as the old names that I used to know
Quietly pass away
Only words remain like fallen snow
In the masterpiece of a city day