Advice for graduating seniors is de rigueur at commencement. Rocker/ poet/ memoirist Patti Smith had much to advise the School of Visual Arts graduating class last week, having composed her speech the day before in a dentist’s chair. Resist the temptation toward materialism, was one thought, as were words from William S. Burroughs: Keep your name clean, when she asked the Naked Lunch author for his wisdom. Mainly she said, follow your vision without compromise.

While she spoke about coming to New York as a young artist and meeting Robert Mapplethorpe, the subject of her book, Just Kids, by way of sharing the plight of young people in pursuit of a meaningful life, she kept most of her life close to the vest. Maybe her life as a wife and mother who has guided her kids toward their next moment is for a future book. Uniquely she could offer a prayer, a musical encouragement to fly, to be free. And when she received an honorary Masters of the Arts from the school, she told SVA’s graduates with grace and humility, this by no means “equates with your achievement.”

Serendipitous to hearing her sing for students, that night I attended a performance of Lanford Wilson’s Burn/This. Among the songs that moved the narrative about an unlikely relationship was Patti Smith’s “Because the Night Belongs to Lovers.” Degree or not, she has made her place in the firmament. WSB would be proud.