The following is an excerpt from Tony Robles’s “16th and Mission Friendship Train,” from the collection Cool Don’t Live Here No More: A Letter to San Francisco.
“Having lived the life,
He now lives it out
In an electronic wheelchair
Which is his
Present day Cadillac
Brougham
He sits and a friend
Stops by with
A radio
The baseline breaks
Through the static of
The old radio
An old song comes
Through, an oldie called
‘The Friendship Train’ by
The Temptations
And his eyes and
Ears perk up
And he rises
Out of that
Chair
‘Good God’ he says”