Audrey Hepburn Disappears

Hannah’s sitting at the bar 

Drowning her brown eyes in drink 

Another apostle of reason poised 

On the abyss’ brink. 

So Billy, not unkindly, 

Removes his hat and takes a stool 

He looks at her in the mirror, sez 

“Miss you’ve been a fool.” 

You know Audrey Hepburn disappears 

When she steps out of the frame 

She’s just a skinny kid with glasses 

A good person — all the same 

She’s not one you’d mark for a star 

Not one you’d mark for fame 

An accident of light and limb 

A projection of lust and shame” 

 So Hannah looks at Billy 

Tips her glass of Scotch 

When he goes to light her cigarette 

She glances at her watch 

She says “love’s a kind of craving, 

And it’s a kind of letting go, 

 And it’s animals behaving… 

I know you’re just a gigolo.” 

 Now Billy don’t mind the banter, 

He’s read this room before, 

 He says “I was a taxi dancer

In Vienna, après le Great War 

But that really wasn’t all I was 

 And I had much to avoid 

I used to weep with Marlene Dietrich

 I used to fix with Sigmund Freud. 

 “So I’d ask you to forgive me, Miss 

All of my insouciance. 

 I hear your boyfriend was a Nazi? 

I guess the heart wants what it wants.” 

 Now H., she finally cracks a smile, 

 She slaps Billy on his knee, 

Says “I dreamed I saw St. Augustine, 

Alive as you and me. 

 And he told me if you gotta love, 

You gotta do it carefully.” 

 You know Audrey Hepburn disappears 

When she steps out of the frame 

She’s just a skinny kid with glasses 

A good person — all the same 

She’s not one you’d mark for a star 

Not one you’d mark for fame 

An accident of light and limb 

A projection of lust and shame”