Grievous Angel
Melting iron
Under the Castilian sun
Gunpowder cracks the rafters
As we realise the war's begun.
Ropes tie up the timbers
Tar boils in the heat
Blackened hulks of harbour ships
Fly banners made of wheat.
Boxes stuffed with wood-ash
Wheel down the street
Curfew as the sun goes down
On fields of burning sheets.
Have you seen the envoys?
They're trying hard to hide
The unrest we feel upon us
And the fears we feel inside.
Turn another key
In your mother's clocks
Before you lose your dignity
In all those golden locks.
I'm up to here now
With your sister's intrigues
I've seen her out on the water
With another refugee.
A golden cage
Where you keep your flags and quills
The countess who dances badly
But pays all of your bills.
Your best friend he's in Newgate
On a charge of watering down the ink
Down by the chambers of Lambeth
You take all you can drink.
You're my angel
Sent from up above
Lights shine down upon you
On your suffocating love.
Grievous angel
Hang heavy on me now
Across the fields of plenty
And the lands under the plough.
I've got a golden casket
Engraved with your name
And a portrait by Picasso
That I keep in a golden frame.
In your mansion
There's a box of tricks
I can hear you play the violin
Down in the sticks.
You're my angel
Sent from up above
Hold me now and forever
With your suffocating love.
Turn another key
In your mother's clock
The only way to heaven
Is the door you must unlock.
Your sister's husband
Paid for more than you'll ever guess
Even a refugee
Some day has to confess.
You're my angel
Carried through the town
Wrapped me up in linen
When you unwrapped your crown.
You're my angel
I miss you from time to time
You'll never have to find out
If you were really mine.
Grievous angel
Sent from up above
Lights shine down upon you
On the books of unwritten love.
Grievous angel
Hang heavy on me now
Make me seek forever
Like the crows that follow the plough.
