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
Jewellery 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 whore

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
It's 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 sexy? 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