For Françoise (in Memoriam)

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I saw you in a Village record shop

     on a rainy day in June

and knew right away from the smile

     on your face

I'd have to have you soon.

 

I brought you back to my coldwater flat,

     dropped you on the table

and slipped into a dream of a place

     with a French girl under the gables.

 

The years flew by, you became a big star,

     courted by poets and fools

But the girl in that shop still had my heart

     the French girl under the gables.

 

The news, when it broke, came as shock for reasons

     I can't explain

And though life is what it is, it hardly matters

     to a French girl grown old under the gables.