Stephen Sondheim
Evening Primrose: If You Can Find Me I’m Here
[CHARLES]
Is it done?
Are they gone?
Am I alone?
I am alone, it's done, they're gone
I am a genius, Charles, you are an unadulterated genius
You are an indisputable extraordinary, what was that?
Not a thing, you're a fool, you are alone
And it begins

Careful, Careful
Mustn't get excited, mustn't overdo it
Softly, tip toe
You'll get used to it in no time
Look at it! Beautiful!
What a place to live, what a place to write!
I shall be inspired
I shall turn out elegiеs and sonnets
Verses by thе ton
At last i have a home and nobody will know
No one in the world
Nobody will know I'm here!
I am free! I am free!

Goodbye my friends and good riddance
Pardon while I disappear
Come see me soon in my hideaway
If you can find me I'm here
Farewell you blood sucking landlords
Pouring your threats in my ear
Good luck forever to you and yours
If you can find me, I'm here
And I'll stay
Cozily hiding by day
During the day I'll resign
Waiting till you go away
But at nine
Masters of all I survey
Everything gets to be mine to own
Mine to use
Mine to write all the poems I choose
All alone, only me and my muse
And forty pianos and ten thousand shoes

Farewell Neanderthal neighbors
Swilling your pretzels and beer
Fair weather friends will you miss me now?
If you can find me I'm here
Goodbye despoilers of beauty
Ruin another career
When you wake up with one genius less
If you can find me I'm here

And I'm free
Free as a bird in a tree
Free as the slippers I wear
Free with a years warantee
Free as air
All of these products and me
All that I ask is a chair that tilts
Books to read
Light refreshment before I proceed
And a blazer or maybe a tweed
The barest essentials a poet would need
Live in your barbarous jungle
Screaming for ways to get clear
When all the screaming has died away
Come and visit my hide away
I will be glad to provide a way
If you can find me
I'm here
I am here
I am here
I am here
I am here