Four Portraits

        Em   Dm
There's Arnold
         Em       Dm7
With his back to me
   C      Dm              Em          Dm7
Wandering down through an ill-lit street
        Em   Dm
I'm curious
           Em         Dm7
And would like to entreat
C         Dm          Em       Dm7
Is it inspiration or self-defeat

 Gm7            C7                 Fmaj7
And from the corner his figure fades
 Fm            A#7        D#maj7    G
And should I follow or retrograde

         C    Dm
There's Anton
           Em     Dm
With a furrowed brow
C          Dm         Em           Dm7
A crooked finger and non-plussed scowl
           C      Dm
There's symmetry
 Em         Dm7
He will soon endow
C          Dm                Em         Dm7
Crafting tone rows with his head faced down

 Gm          C7         Fmaj7
If I seek pleasure in melody
 Fm       A#7             D#maj7    G
Have I betrayed best tendencies

     C   Dm
Oh Alban
              Em       Dm7
We part our hair the same
   C     Dm       Em        Dm
Posing next to a drawer and frame
    C Dm       Em      Dm
At 23 and two years of age
  C            Dm            Em    Dm7
Your work is tasteful your life's urbane

 Gm7           C7                  Fmaj7
As for the despot's who bring you down
 Fm         A#7                    Gm
A century later they're still around

F#m       Bm                Bm/E
And so I sit by the window sill
         Bm/D                      Bm/G#
Feeling sad, the questions linger still
                G                     Gm7
I'm trying to decide if it's fake or real

      D     Em
I'm all alone
      F#m      Em7
In a noisy throng
  D             Em      F#m         Em7
Nameless and ageless, all strung along
   D       Em    F#m       Em
Nobody else can name this song
 D            Em   F#m                Em7
Mispronunciations and words spelled wrong

Gm7             C7                     Fmaj7
At times like these I think I'm on my own
Fm            A#7          D#7
A new self-portrait of my own