Listen while you read! I've watched her from the river banks I knew her when she danced with dreams White doves were there to dress her hair And so was Madelaine
At night the people's faces danced Like pearls colliding on the breast Of fat Marie whose thunder laugh Was just a thread from crying
Her sailors stained her cobblestones With wine and piss and death desire And sometimes blood for Madelaine Whose laughter was the night
Her girls would lift their dresses high and breathe the stars and kiss the sky She'd smother them with whispers then Embrace them with her sighs
Before the bottle dulled my eyes And made me so I couldn't stand I'd overact and play the clown When Madelaine would cry
And now I watch from riverbanks I watch it weave it's memories White doves turned gray and flew away And so did Madelaine