Ballad In Plain D

  D            Bm    G               D
I once loved a girl, her skin it was bronze
                        Bm            C            G
With the innocence of a lamb, she was gentle like a fawn
  D           Bm           G          D
I courted her proudly, but now she is gone
            A            A7  D     A A6 A7
Gone as the season she's ta--ken.

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

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


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

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

     D      Bm               G               D
With unseen consciousness, I possessed in my grip
              Bm                      C          G
A magnificent mantelpiece, though its heart being chipped
D        Bm           G       D
Noticing not that I'd already slipped
            A              A7  D
To a sin of love's false security.

     D           Bm       G            D
From silhouetted anger to manufactured peace
           Bm         C         G
Answers of emptiness, voice vacancies
         D             Bm             G                D
Till the tombstones of damage read me no question but, "Please
                        A           A7 D
What's wrong and what's exactly the matter?"

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

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

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

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

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

       D                Bm           G        D
Ah, my friends from the prison, they ask unto me
               Bm           C         G        
"How good, how good does it feel to be free"?
    D        Bm        G         D
And I answer them most mysteriously
                         A             A7  D
"Are birds free from the chains of the skyway"?