Because tonight

Because tonight,

Patti Smith sang a cappella;

the poem put to rock,

written for her husband,

before she made him a husband,

when they lived in different states,

and she saw me in the crowd and said

Just because they do not see you

does not mean that you do not exist.

Then she realized her fly was down

and I saw all of humanity swimming

in the portal of her barrel jeans,

the humanity where I had drowned,

mistaking light for air,

and God spoke through Patti Smith,

Just because they do not see you

does not mean that you do not exist.