Pete Atkin sings
Femme Fatale

by Clive James and Pete Atkin,
from The Lakeside Sessions, Vol.1

[Much more at www.peteatkin.com]

LYRIC:

It isn't fear I feel, or lack of nerve
Call it just a sensible reserve
Faced with the intoxicating verve
Of anyone who scintillates like you
The children turning flint-wheels in the mines
          looked pretty too
And sparks were shaken out like golden rain
And oh so very lovely were the loneliness and pain

It's not because I'm burning out or old
I hesitate to snuggle in the fold
Of body heat that really beats the cold
Though Icarus flew near the sun and fell
The chandeliers above the weeping fields
          were warm as well
And flares would crumple down like fairy lights
And oh so very lovely were the long and fearful nights

It's all because you are too much for me
Too good to last, too beautiful to be
That you are doomed to be a casualty
Of the night-fight on my deeps of memory
A galleon with fire below falls glowing through the sea
Every mast shall tremble like a tree
And oh so very lovely shine the blast that breaks them free