The sun may have been shining on the seventh of June
in the thoughts of Clovis and Aline Marie
as the statues were polished in the late afternoon
and the debutants danced with the merchant marines
The republican’s wine was beginning to sour
His words would fall short and his tongue remain silent
When the latest Napoleon came into power
my mother wept softly in the arms of Saint Simon
as I clutched at the heart of the middle class world…
