they say that anyone can make it here;
you just need some will and some way and
all of it can be all you ever dreamed.
they don't tell you that the waitress -
the one who fills your coffee mug to the brim
and smiles at your meager two-dollar tip -
can play Beethoven's 9th better than Ludwig himself;
or that the homeless man on the corner
wrapped in yesterday's newspapers
begging for the change you don't have
just wanted to be a star once upon a time.
they don't tell you about the failures,
the missed chances,
the "better-luck-next-time-kid".
they tell you about that one-in-a-million,
that lucky strike.
they say that anyone can make it here
but they don't mean you.