The ties that bound us
Are still around us -
There's no escape that I can see.
And still those little things remain
That bring me happiness or pain -
A cigarette that bears a lipstick's traces,
An airline ticket to romantic places,
And still my heart has wings -
These foolish things
Remind me of you.
A tinkling piano in the next apartment,
Those stumbling words that told you what my heart meant,
A fair ground's painted swings -
These foolish things
Remind me of you.
You came, you saw,
You conquer'd me.
When you did that to me,
I knew somehow this had to be.
The winds of March that make my heart a dancer,
A telephone that rings, but who's to answer?
Oh, how the ghost of you clings!
These foolish things
Remind me of you.
First daffodils and long excited cables,
And candle lights on little corner tables,
And still my heart has wings -
These foolish things
Remind me of you.
The park at evening when the bell has sounded,
The "Île-de-France" with all the gulls around it,
The beauty that is spring's -
These foolish things
Remind me of you.
How strange, how sweet to find you still.
These things are dear to me -
They seem to bring you near to me.
The sigh of midnight trains in empty stations,
Silk stockings thrown aside, dance invitations.
Oh, how the ghost of you clings!
These foolish things
Remind me of you.
Gardenia perfume ling'ring on a pillow,
Wild strawberries only seven francs a kilo,
And still my heart has wings -
These foolish things
Remind me of you.
The smile of Garbo and the scent of roses,
The waiters whistling as the last bar closes,
The song that Crosby sings -
These foolish things
Remind me of you.
How strange, how sweet to find you still.
These things are dear to me -
They seem to bring you near to me.
The scent of smould'ring leaves, the wail of steamers,
Two lovers on the street, who walk like dreamers.
Oh, how the ghost of you clings!
These foolish things
Remind me of you.
Eric Maschwitz, writing under the pseudonym Holt Marvell,
for
Ella Fitzgerald
"These foolish things"
1935
