She was short, dark and pretty
and bitingly witty,
and bored with men’s gifts of fine roses.
For just one to have been
a fine limousine
would have been as was manna to Moses.
She frequently dined
and too frequently wined,
at the famous Algonquin Hotel
where her friends were inclined
to drink all they could find;
and so did Miss Parker as well.
I’ve admired all my life
her wit like a knife,
though her own life was often ill-starred
and a dark, lonely mess
as she drank through the stress
of the sadness behind the façade.
When the ghosts of her past
have done drinking at last
at the famous Algonquin Hotel
I’ll be waiting outside
with a rose –and a ride
in that one perfect limo as well.