Bleak House
(Phillips)

Say no word
She watched as she waited
By the iron gate
Veiled in black brocade
Tom was all-alone,
She spoke soft but breathless,
He took the half-a-crown
And thought how strange

Long ago, she knew a man
Who sailed the seas
And gave her a daughter
Through the vanished years
Fate bestowed a lady's seat
She honoured it with grace
Hid the part and with it me

Now, she is everything to me
Though I was denied her tenderness
Years spent in gloom
I cried in my room
I believed I'd been quite deserted

But now that I find, she gave everything to me
Until it became quite impossible
Scorn upon scandal
Helpless to handle,
She's bitterly breaking now
Why is my dream disturbed?

Cold cut the wind
We pitched as we tossed
From cobblestone to track
Along the old canal
Fierce came the frost
The stone changed to pasture
Could anyone survive?
Has anybody seen?

Long ago a fox found out,
The laid the captain dead at his masthead
Searching everywhere, questioning the wind and trees
I beat the empty air, knowing it has seen her face

Now, I'd give everything to know
Why my flesh and blood must suffer so
Turning and tossing
From river to crossing
Causing great confusion

If she only knew, she was everything to me,
Alone now, somewhere, she's imploring me
Oh, please forgive me
I've been so thoughtless
She's bitterly breaking now

For, she is everything to me
Though I was denied her tenderness
Years spent in gloom
I cried in my room
I believed I'd been quite deserted

But now that I find, she gave everything to me
Until it became quite impossible
Scorn upon scandal
Helpless to handle,
I pray that we're not to late....

Bleak rose the towers
The rain lashed the horses
We found the gate ajar
Her cloak lay in a heap
The captain's furled his sails
 [bad word] as no surprise
She's no longer here