Argenteuil in July

Charlie's friends gathered on the eighth-floor terrace
They're drinking Pellegrino and eating paté
We talk about the yellow vests and Tuesday's game

The neighbor's nieces are in town for the week
And they only say hi when they're with him
I hear their English music as I carry the dishes to the kitchen

This afternoon they might have seen me naked, turning read and reading Wilde
At midnight I'll be dancing on the toolshed coaxing anger from my eyes

But down by the green door
Out and the stone's cold
Dart through the arcade, duck past the temple
Sigh at the river, try to be a drifter
Families are crowding the archways you'd like to disappear through

Charlie got a job for me at a storage facility
I never paid for the train
Then I got caught without a validated ticket stub
But odds were it wouldn't happen again

On site I just made lists of empty boxes and guys
Who owed us and sorted through mail
On weekends I drowned myself in park fountains and department store sales

But down by the green door
Out and the stone's cold
Dart through the arcade, duck past the temple
Sigh at the river, try to be a drifter
Families are crowding the archways you'd like to disappear through

Sigh at the river, try to be a drifter
Drift up the north coast, where only the French go
Without all the film festivals
Though I'd rather attend one of those

Wade through the ocean, onto the island
Here 'cause it's low tide, gone when the tide's high
Bike past the sand dunes, wince at the bright blue
Wait at the station and realize you're on your way to a place that's not home

Down by the green door
Out and the stone's cold
Dart through the arcade, duck past the temple
Sigh at the river, try to be a drifter
Families are crowding the archways you'd like to disappear through