Ballad in Plain D

  C            Am    F               C
I once loved a girl, her skin it was bronze
                        Am            Bb            F
With the innocence of a lamb, she was gentle like a fawn
  C           Am           F          C
I courted her proudly, but now she is gone
            G            G7  C     G G6 G7
Gone as the season she's ta--ken.

     C              Am       F          C
In a young summer's youth, I stole her away
                    Am             Bb             F
From her mother and sister, though close did they stay
C                Am                 F                 C
Each one of them suffering from the failures of their day
                           G                   C
With strings of guilt they tried hard to guide us.

C          Am       F           C
Of the two sisters, I loved the young
               Am                     Bb       F
With sensitive instincts, she was the creative one
    C              Am            F        C
The constant scrapegoat, she was easily undone
                   G             C
By the jealousy of others around her.


        C        Am        F         C
For her parasite sister, I had no respect
             Am           Bb       F
Bound by her boredom, her pride to protect
C         Am             F           C
Countless visions of the other she'd reflect
                    G                   C
As a crutch for her scenes and her society.

C                Am       F           C
Myself, for what I did, I cannot be excused
                  Am                  Bb      F
The changes I was going through can't even be used
        C           Am          F            C
For the lies that I told her in hopes not to lose
                   G               C
The could-be dream-lover of my lifetime.

     C      Am               F               C
With unseen consciousness, I possessed in my grip
              Am                      Bb          F
A magnificent mantelpiece, though its heart being chipped
C        Am           F       C
Noticing not that I'd already slipped
            G              G7  C
To a sin of love's false security.


     C           Am       F            C
From silhouetted anger to manufactured peace
           Am         Bb         F
Answers of emptiness, voice vacancies
         C             Am             F                C
Till the tombstones of damage read me no question but, "Please
                        G           G7 C
What's wrong and what's exactly the matter?"

    C         Am              F                  C
And so it did happen, like it could have been foreseen
                Am        Bb        F
The timeless explosion of fantasy's dream
       C           Am         F            C
At the peak of the night, the king and the queen
            G            C
Tumbled all down into pieces.

     C      Am          F          C
"The tragic figure" her sister did shout
C          Am         Bb            F
"Leave her alone, God damn you, get out"
    C       Am      F       C
And I in my armour, turning about
                       G
And nailing her in the ruins of her pettiness.

  C            Am             F           C
Beneath a bare light bulb the plaster did pound
               Am     Bb              F
Her sister and I in a screaming battleground
    C      Am           F         C
And she in between, the victim of sound
                    G                C
Soon shattered as a child to the shadows.

       C            Am      F            C
All is gone, all is gone, admit it, take flight
                  Am             Bb          F
I gagged in contradiction, tears blinding my sight
   C           Am             F        C
My mind it was mangled, I ran into the night
                      G            C
Leaving all of love's ashes behind me.

    C              Am          F          C
The wind knocks my window, the room it is wet
                     Am       Bb            F
The words to say I'm sorry, I haven't found yet
  C            Am             F             C
I think of her often and hope whoever she's met
              G                         C
Will be fully aware of how precious she is.

       C                Am           F        C
Ah, my friends from the prison, they ask unto me
               Am           Bb         F        
"How good, how good does it feel to be free"?
    C        Am        F         C
And I answer them most mysteriously
                         G             G7  C
"Are birds free from the chains of the skyway"?