Momus - A Card From Islington lyrics

I saw her at the theatre, I was standing very near her She stood there tearing tickets on the door Her face was like a man's face, there was something strange about her I saw her legs and wanted to see more I met her two weeks later and though I was still a stranger She looked at me as if she thought we'd met We chatted at the interval and I tried to hide my joy At her suggestion that I come back to her flat There were vermin in the dustbin and a sculpture in the stairwell And the neighbours threw junk j**ellery down the well All the rooms were frozen and the windows had big holes in Through which every type of filthy weather fell There was something tragic in her and her face was even thinner Than the outline of a slender sickle moon She put on six red cardigans, two tarnished silver brooches And an overcoat that looked like a cocoon She said she'd had a baby she's taken from a pushchair She'd hi-jacked in a large department store She took it and she cared for it and when the baby bored her She gave it to a friend who was a who*e She told me very slowly I could only become holy If I gave all my accomplices away She said "If you don't believe me you can try it and you'll quickly see How far you get and find out what they say" When I kissed her she looked ginger like a pauper at an auction Afraid to move in case she made a bid She asked me to excuse her and sat down at her computer And wrote 'Only you can make me truly naked' She knelt and gave me tenderly the greatest gift of enemies Curious to see if I would come And when I gave my answer its reticence surprised her And she formed the words 'You love me' with her tongue Considering the energy she spent on making love to me It's strange the way she never went to sleep I woke up, it was four o'clock, my head was full of alcohol She was at the basin scrubbing at her teeth And later in the sitting room her face was like a tombstone She looked as if she'd stepped out of her grave She whispered very softly she had no desire to hurt me Then she told me she was walking with the saved It was different in the morning, we lay there without talking And the room was full of timelessness and charm She rolled over with her back to me, I touched her very tenderly And started tracing letters on her arm We were eating toasted crumpets which we dipped in pots of honey When the shoulder of her T-shirt fell away Was she trying to be s**y? I felt something like a goalie Trying to judge which way to make a save There's a sandman in the library, the bus is very cold today I think I'll never make it on my own But I know that she is happy for I gave her lots of money To travel or to spend her time at home And even now she's left me her ghost still breaks in regularily Interrupting me with other girls She says "Sorry to disturb you but I think you should be careful Wear a condom and make sure you take your pills" She sent a card from Islington saying she'd bought a kitten And how sometimes she felt lonely late at night And if she needed boys again she'd meet them and make love to them And if she didn't that was quite all right