When Alexander Met Emma

When Alexander met Emma

The first day she came to New York

Sachs's Cafe in Manhattan

Coffee and cigarettes and talk

Sun beating down on the East Side

Introductions are made in the haze

Emma, meet Alexander -

Emma just smiles as she says:

“Take my hand. I'll take yours.

Save my life. I'll save yours.”

Life stretches loudly before her

From the Bowery to old Suffolk Street

A five dollar bill in her pocket

And a worldful of people to meet

Ships rigging up in the Hudson

Waiting for love to set sail

Emma she tells Alexander

“I'll be there when you walk from the jail”

“Take my hand. I'll take yours.

Save my life. I'll save yours.”

Newspaper talk turns to headlines

A love so cemented in fame

A word to the strike-breaking bosses

Propaganda in deed and in name

Fourteen long years on the island

It's a lifetime of summers to wait

And Emma, she meets Alexander

As they unlock the last prison gate

“Take my hand. I'll take yours.

Save my life. I'll save yours.”