Oh, Timeless New York

That's the thing about this city, y'know. People come. People go. Buildings are built, some are demolished. Oh New York, how you steal my heart.

I came here, some 50 years ago, I was probably your age, how old is you?

-seventeen

-yeah we're seventeen

well, I was a bit younger than you then haha, ah God how time flies, now I'm old, just like you New York, you oh great jungle of buildings.

Where was I going with this, kid? I must have gotten lost in the way.

-emm yes don't worry bout it, the next question we have is why you came here?

Oh yes! I came with my father, he was a salesman, tho we was very poor, we came to the big city, we came by boat, a friend of my father worked with cargos and shipments and he arranged for us to come.

-so would you say it was illegal, sir?

Oh no nothing illegal boy, we had the passports and we were going to get the citizenship thing, we just didn't have transport. And nothing of sir! kiddo, I know how old I am haha, I already told ya, the name's D'wan

-got it Dewan man

laughs that's it, boy! Now, have you got more of those questions you've got in there?

-just one more sir- Dewan, Dewan I meant

-yeah, last is how much has the city changed since you first saw it?

Oh, not a bit, the city no, the people in her maybe, New York is just as beautiful as the first time I saw her, so imposing, she's real power if y'know what I mean.

The minute I got off that boat, y'know I didn't see anything, I was focused on gettin' the bags and helpin' out my dad. We got into a taxi, It was yellow kid, it looked like a giant toy, pappa said "kid, remember in school they taught you colors? that is yellow" of course I only got through some school grades, I never finished it, had to help pappa, but oh what would I give to just sit there and learn, never leave that place kids, no matter how much work you get, oh what would I give for a book and those big rooms that look like theaters and lectures and oh... I got lost again, gimme a minute... The taxi! so we got into this toy car and I just wanted to look out of the window, but pappa said he wanted me to get surprised by the city so I closed my eyes the whole ride. Then we got there. And get out of this car. I looked up. Houses as big as the sky, everywhere, people had such colorful dresses, they looked like toys, some men wore pink, pink! kid, I turned and I said to pappa "pappa, why is he dressed like a girl?" and pappa said, "D'wan, mind yo own business, if he feel like wearing the rainbow in his shirt, why you care?" It was strange for me, then, of course, I saw women wearing blue, men wearing purple, and then people starting wearing more colorful clothes, there was a trend or something 'n people starting wearing tigers, and flowers, and drawings, and I looked down 'n I only had this grey shirt, but I wanted to be like that man wearing pink, or like another man I saw who was very elegant, every day he wore a suit, it was grey but not grey like my shirt, it was a grey that looked expensive and I said "pappa, I need a suit" 'n he said "a suit? that's some expensive cloth, kid" and I said "I wanna be like the man that walks down here every morning" Of course, pappa promised he would get me a suit when we be millionaires. We never was, in money, but we was rich in what matters, in love, pappa worked his back to give me everything he could. Oh, this city, this city saw me grow, saw pappa died, and she will see me die here, its timeless boy, we are born, we grow, we learn, we live and we die, and she's still there, dressing herself with a new building.

She's the same boy, you'll see when someone comes here for the first time because they just look up, you can see them standing there, feeling small, feeling the enormity of the building that touch the skies, those are my favorite people, when someone has lived here for a while they start feeling normal, I don't know, they get used to the enormity and just live their life. I don't know how can someone not just adore that feeling, that's how I feel every day of my life, I wake up, boy I might not even have a proper bed, but I wake up and I look up and just feel, think I'll never stand as tall as those buildings, that maybe I'll never get to the rooftop of one of them skyscrapers, but I can reach the sky kid, I reach sky, and the problems fly away, I am higher.

I've been leaving here half a century, I've seen music born, I've seen music die, I've seen ideas grow in here, I've seen people falling in love with the view, people falling in love with other people, people falling in love with the city, I've seen kids grow, I've seen birds flying, I've seen art, I've seen life and I've seen death, but every day I see this city and I think to myself, what a wonderful time to be alive.

So that's the thing about this city, we live, we love, we die, but she's still there, she was here before me and she'll be here after I'm gone, but she'll never change.

Yeah.

She'll never change.

Have you got everything for yo school report? yo need something else?

-No man, we were actually going to ask several people but I think we got everything we need.

-yeah, you, emm, you really love this whole city, I admit, sometimes I wish I were somewhere else, I guess I'm gonna need to just feel the city, like you sir.

Oh to love this city, it's just a wonder.

-can we come by tomorrow? I mean we have to finish the thesis today but tomorrow momma's making hot dogs, perhaps you'll like some.

kid, I would love to.

-well then Dewan, til tomorrow man, thanks for everything.

Thank you, now get safe to your houses, be good kids, and don't forget to look up.

Yeah, never forget to look up.