XXIX
FRANCE - SHE IS A LOVELY COUNTRY AND
THE LANGUAGE - HE IS HANDSOME TOO.
As '92 draws nearer
I thought that I should
Try to learn to speak some French
So that I would ...
Be able to communicate
With our friends across La Manche,
For we're all Europeans,
Just a different branch.
French is a complicated language
Our "the" could be "le", "la" or "les"
And unless you know the sex of a thing
There is nothing you can say.
French verbs have always been a nightmare,
At school we learnt them all by heart,
But when you really need them
All your knowledge will depart.
Even when the French speak broken English
And split infinitives 'till they shriek,
They always sound romantic and seductive,
It's a pleasure to listen to them speak.
With my stiff and wooden tongue
How galling it must be
For the French to hear their lovely language
Mangled by the likes of me.
To Francine
11.12.1990
(Closer EU ties were obviously due
in the year of 1992)
