Classic Poem

Every street in old Manhattan
Is a page of strange romance;
Never quote your odes in Latin,
Or your lyrics out of France.

Give me ballads of the Bowery,
Towered Broadway up and down,
Keep your sonnets, trite and flowery,
Give me chants of Chinatown.

I want songs of street and steeple,
Mighty dramas that unroll,
Give me tales of life and people,
Epics of Manhattan's soul!