A Kind of Answered Prayer

They did away with the building where she once lived
Tore it down without a care
I stood and watched as they broke a hundred windows
I stood and thought, this isn’t fair

Other buildings that are so much uglier
Are allowed to rise and block the sun
Why’d they have to destroy something beautiful
Why’d they have to do that to my favorite one

I fell in love with a woman in that building
We used to kiss under the stairs
And later on, in a room facing a courtyard
I found a kind of answered prayer
There was no A/C and lousy plumbing
Giant water bugs and hungry mice
But no matter what I kept on coming
I said a prayer and then I rolled the dice

Now everything has disappeared
And it’s just as I feared
Once something’s gone, it’s really, really gone

Sometimes I have to wonder
Would I ever do that all again
You see, the kind that answers prayers
Was my girlfriend

That’s when I wore my hair up in a pompadour
Spectator shoes and sleeveless shirt
She read Baudelaire and quoted him seductively
Walking up Fifth in a tight skirt

She’s the kind that answered all my prayers
She’s the kind that kissed away my cares
I wish I could ask her, hey, are you aware
Of what you did to me when you disappeared

I put my faith in pretty words
I wish I’d never heard
But I read her love notes all the time

Who thinks they’ll find the perfect love
Who on earth would even dare
Well I did - she was the kind that answers prayers