[February Writing Challenge] She Lies With Angels
Posted: Sat Feb 13, 2010 9:38 pm
It took me a long time to write these lyrics. A long time, a lot of pain and too many tears to be remembered. Most of the time the paper was blurred, the ink smudged and most of the time, they ended up in the bin.
Then they came, flowed, like water over a cliff, emptying into the stagnant pool that I felt I'd slid into as surely as that day.
I sit on the stage, on my stool, the wings pulled tight to my body as I stare into the audience, acoustic six-string on my lap. I hear my other band members sidle offstage. This is my time, they know that. My silence.
I bow my head, vaguely remembering I have an audience to please. Funny, they won't get what these lyrics'll mean. Maybe it'll hit home for a couple of them, maybe there'll be tears by the end of the night. Selfishly, I hope I'm not the only one who cries.
I thumb the first string almost apologetically. This is the first time I've sung this in front of anyone but my bandmates, the only people that understand.
I hope you're listening, up there.
I really miss you.
“You know you've touched heaven
When you've seen it die
I knew I saw hell
When I saw her cry
I knew paradise,
You bade me fly
My heart broke
With your final sigh.
She lies with angels, in her bower
She waits in heaven, my lonely flower
She lies with angels, I knew she's one
I wait in hell, it's just begun...
Too close, too soon
Ended 'fore it began
We barely touched,
When the tears ran
You sunk so deep
In lover's arms...
I couldn't bring you home.”
I looked up at the night sky, brilliant with stars outside my little circle of light, alone with myself and my ghosts, my angel. The audience didn't exist as I fought to keep my breathing under control, the sobs welling up, and I thanked my hated mutation that it kept my voice steady, the harmonies not betraying my heart breaking all over again as I remembered that day...waking up in the water with her cold in my arms.
“I couldn't bring you home,
You'd gone too deep
I couldn't join you
In merciful sleep
You lie at peace now
While I have none
My hell is here without you
Stay's just begun...”
I let the notes repeat, let the music fade.
“She lies with angels...”
Then they came, flowed, like water over a cliff, emptying into the stagnant pool that I felt I'd slid into as surely as that day.
I sit on the stage, on my stool, the wings pulled tight to my body as I stare into the audience, acoustic six-string on my lap. I hear my other band members sidle offstage. This is my time, they know that. My silence.
I bow my head, vaguely remembering I have an audience to please. Funny, they won't get what these lyrics'll mean. Maybe it'll hit home for a couple of them, maybe there'll be tears by the end of the night. Selfishly, I hope I'm not the only one who cries.
I thumb the first string almost apologetically. This is the first time I've sung this in front of anyone but my bandmates, the only people that understand.
I hope you're listening, up there.
I really miss you.
“You know you've touched heaven
When you've seen it die
I knew I saw hell
When I saw her cry
I knew paradise,
You bade me fly
My heart broke
With your final sigh.
She lies with angels, in her bower
She waits in heaven, my lonely flower
She lies with angels, I knew she's one
I wait in hell, it's just begun...
Too close, too soon
Ended 'fore it began
We barely touched,
When the tears ran
You sunk so deep
In lover's arms...
I couldn't bring you home.”
I looked up at the night sky, brilliant with stars outside my little circle of light, alone with myself and my ghosts, my angel. The audience didn't exist as I fought to keep my breathing under control, the sobs welling up, and I thanked my hated mutation that it kept my voice steady, the harmonies not betraying my heart breaking all over again as I remembered that day...waking up in the water with her cold in my arms.
“I couldn't bring you home,
You'd gone too deep
I couldn't join you
In merciful sleep
You lie at peace now
While I have none
My hell is here without you
Stay's just begun...”
I let the notes repeat, let the music fade.
“She lies with angels...”
You're on a roll here, Scummy!