A Portrait

He is a tall and lanky man,
who wears a Scots beret
    and a silk ascot.
He leans against the bar,
inserts a thin cigar
into a silver holder,
and lights up.

The light blue eyes
fix on the tophatted walrus
mounted on the opposite wall.
He begins to talk in a mellifluous accent
of New York/London baritone smoothness.

The nightly magic of “John Tuck Speak”
surrounds us and uplifts us. He transports us.
We are in his element, in his home,
at the Gaslight Restaurant.