THE GOOD WORD ACCORDING TO · THE ULTRA-HARRIER
IRA
Harry stands next to Billy PennHarry’s heart goes out to Philadelphia
Chapter 21
And so it happened that the crew got some really fabulous footage of Harry,
2Standing right next to Billy Penn,
3In the very center of the City of Philadelphia,
4With the moon making everything very bright,
5In all directions.
6And Harry beheld the view for several minutes without saying a word,
7Until some of the crew began to think that he might be paralyzed with acrophobia or something,
8Except that he suddenly laughed out loud,
9At the top of his lungs,
10And said to the statue, Truly this is my city, Billy,
11And in a few years they will want to knock you off your clay feet,
12And replace you with a statue of me instead,
13Because the aQuaker heart of Philadelphia is only a memory,
14With all its dreams of bpeace and cjustice and dtolerance and harmony,
15Which were only stupid edelusions,
16Because in spite of all your fine talk,
17The fheart of Philadelphia is really just like mine,
18And the beat of Philadelphia is really just like that of some third-rate bar band,
19Which is gloud and obnoxious and hout of time,
20And going absolutely nowhere at a frantic pace,
21iBecause it’s too hard to learn how to play music,
22And so much fun to just make noise instead.
23Yes, my great big heart goes out to every part of jPhiladelphia,
24And all its great citizens,
25Because from here I can see the browned-out lights of all their kneighborhoods,
26lIncluding the Broad Streeters, and the Pennsylvanians, and the Brewers, and the Villanovans, and the Richmondites, and the Kensingtonians, and the Hillites, and the Manayunkians, and the Camdenites, and the Mainliners, and the Southlanders, and the Josephians, and the Templites, and the Boulevardiers, and the Textilians, and Passyunkians, the Cynwydians, and the Hahnemaniacs, and the Jeffersonians, and the Forgers, and the Prussians, and the Glensiders, and the Haysites, and the Jenkintonians, and the Museumites, and the Narberthians, and even the Hallites,
27And all of them are mmine,
28Before they even know who I am,
29Because they will leap like trout for my nTrinity,
30Which offers everything,
31And demands nothing in return,
32oWhich is a deal no other messiah has ever proffered the race of Mankind.
33And then he said, in the dialect of his homeland, Such a deal! Bee-uty-full!
34And turning back to the statue, he said, Want to jump down now, Billy?
35Or do you want to go down the phard way,
36Looking up at all the ugly new qmonuments to my way that will be built in the years to come,
37Which will coldly condescend you from a million plate-glass eyes,
38rAnd a thousand faceless faces made of steel?
39Then Harry turned suddenly back to the camera and said, Do you have enough footage?
40Have you had enough fun for one night?
41I’m atired now,
42And I think I’d like to go back to my room,
43And try to get some sleep.
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Chapter 21 / 46