we packed up our books and our dishes our dreams and your worsted wool suits we sailed on the eighth of december farewell old hudson river here comes the sea and love was as new and as bright and as true when i loved you and you loved me two steamer trunks in the carriage safe arrival we cabled back home it was just a few days before christmas we filled our stockings with wishes and walked for hours arm and arm through the rain to the glassed in caf that held us like hot house flowers living in paris in attics and garrets where the coal merchants climb every stair the dance hall next door is filled with sailors and whores and the music floats up through the air there s sancerre and oysters cathedrals and cloisters and time with its unerring aim for now we can say we were lucky most days and throw a rose into the seine  love is the greatest deceiver it hollows you out like a drum and suddenly nothing is certain as if all the clouds closed the curtains and blocked the sun and friends now are strangers in this city of dangers as cold and as cruel as they come sometimes i look at old pictures and smile at how happy we were how easy it was to be hungry it wasn t for fame or for money it was for love now my copper hair s grey as the stone on the quay in the city where magic was living in paris in attics and garrets where the coal merchants climb every stair the dance hall next door is filled with sailors and whores and the music floats up through the air there s sancerre and oysters cathedrals and cloisters and time with its unerring aim for now we can say we were lucky most days and throw a rose into the seine