This is from Charles Bukowski’s manuscripts  (challenge #1 Fall in love with a poet)

(‘This is the first one that I changed a little following is the original)

How long does love stay green?

(as long as the money lasts)

when  women open doors and walk out in rain at 3 a.m.

like an ape trying to relocate his last stool

when sleeping wants to kill himself

and  someone as rich as you

mounts a machine gun on their roof

to point at you as you search in garbage cans

–hello rocks in the sun

–how long does love stay green?

She’ll tell you what the queen

wore to the opera or who has won

twenty baseball games

as your heart lies by a dead chicken

outside a Spanish whorehouse

as pain screams in cemetery bones

she says

–where did my big dream go?

–hello to the rocks in her shoes

——

How long does love stay green?

(as long as the money lasts)

when men open doors and walk out into the rain at 3 a.m.

like apes trying to relocate their last stool

when sleep wants to kill itself

and somebody richer than you

mounts a machine gun upon his roof

to point at you as you search garbage cans

I say

–hello to rocks in the sun

–how long does love stay green?

they’ll tell you what the queen

wore at the opera or who won

twenty baseball games

as your heart lies next to a

dead chicken

outside of a Spanish whorehouse

as the pain screams in your cemetary bones

I say

–where did the big dream go?

–hello to rocks in my shoes

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