A Map of New York

Think of each plaza, pier, and public park
How many sit there empty, lonely, dark
Think of it, for tomorrow's sake
Think of how you and I can make our mark

You and I, we can draw a brand-new grid
Everything that you dreamed of as a kid
Give it a year, and go with me
Soon enough, you'll say "Look what we two did"

You've always had the right dream
We've always made a tight team
Now at last you're back, exactly where you ought to be
So let's make a map of New York you and me

22 Reade, a building, sidewalk, shade

Now a memory that for Beth will never fade

And I could be planning city sites
Where memories just like this one might be made

33 Bond, where I wrote my first book

Greenwich and Moore where I learned how to cook

The Center Street courts, I intern there

The joy of this job is everywhere I look

That market was my first job

That diner was my worst job

And everywhere around me are these lives I left behind

The tunnel where I laid rail

The co-op where I made my first sale

They make a map of New York in my mind

Put a sticker on the map where you landed that first day

Put a pin on the bridge

On the train

On JFK

On the street where I swore I'd afford a place someday

Every avenue and place
Every building, every face
Of the lovers and the friends
The beginnings and the ends
Make a map of NYC
Where I've been and who I'll be
And you'll find me

And you're feeling adrift, alone, apart
Then suddenly life will somehow start
And a map of New York is written on your heart

On your heart
On your heart

I'm too old for all that shit
To be told I'm selling out
Then again, all these years
Did I lose what I'm about?
On the street, in the cold
It's so hard to fight the doubt

Then you hear the tunnel hum
With a train about to come
And you surface to the street
And you fall into the beat
You can trace a line to me
On that map of NYC
Right where I should be

Think of how human life will ebb and flow

People, and how they'll come and how they'll go
Remember the things we hoped and planned

Remember them, and believe them, and you'll know

We'll know

We never walk a straight line
We never check a street sign

But it's in the detour that we truly find our way

We always know the way home

As long as we can stay here we're home

And we make a map of work

And we make a map of play

And we make a map of New York every day

Ending the night at 23rd and 3rd

Liz and her date, who's hanging on each word