The winter whispers of spring

And a phone ring

Brought us together

Atop a humongous

Shiny-black monument

To man's skyscraping aspirations

Overlooking the Big Apple's idea of a park

With no theme

Like Robin and his merry men

Were we to the scheme

Joining forces

Building horses

With hundreds of tiny, throw-away swords

Un-sheaved and ready

To cut paper for a hangin'

At the party on top of black mountain

Tangle, we did

With getting acquainted

When some smoked

To give us an unwanted brain full

While sharing tools and jokes

With folks in love with side-splitting laughter

That was at times painful

But sweeter on the day after

At the party on top of black mountain

And music poured forth

Like rainbows mixing

To accompany our cut-n-paste mosaic affixing

Giving wings to our highs and lows

And inklings of whom we were

To each other

And to the uninvited pros

 In and out they came curiously

Catching sideward glimpses

Of our Broadway show

Our joyous aloneness and synchronicity

Of specific simplicity and flow

At the party on top of black mountain

Coffee breaks and lunches intertwined

When the time came

To leave the contract behind

And give Central Park

An over viewing piece of our mind

How blessed were we

Finding each other the way we did

Thanks to the boss' bid

And a few empty checking accounts

Amazing- sometimes

How events come together

And great things happen

When the smell of good money

Sends out its whiffs

Like gifts

Given unto the sweet justice

Of perfect timing

Before the dawn of love's victory

Love's climbing

To the party at the top of black mountain

Such a sticky situation to recall

With joint compounding complications

And healings

Power-playing through the day

Amidst ass-kissing snitches

In stitches

As we had our way with the walls

And ceilings

Seventy-five floors up

At the party on top of black mountain

A-number one

Top of the heap

Says the song

Even though plenty went wrong

Before our days were done

And when it was finally

And painstakingly over

The respect of our peers had been won

Which we would gladly have traded

Had we been obliged to make a choice

Between the expert's praise

And the friendships made at the party

On top of black mountain

John Christopher 1988