Partner In Crime

It happened in the summer, not so very long ago.

It was so warm and humid Elsie would go down to the old wood and pray for

the wind to come.

She had a friend who swore you could evoke the angels simply by prayer.

She said "There are angels for every desire but you must believe, you have

to believe."

So by the time the sun was buried along with the stale air a plan had

formed very clearly in her mind.

She was a lonely girl of around twenty or so, and as she knelt down to pray

in the old wood under the town, her heart would beg and plead:

I desire a partner in crime

I've grown tired of endless crying

I desire a partner in crime

I've grown tired of endless crying

Crying for nothing

And the roses hung their weary heads like people do when they are heavy

and without hope. The seasons passed January, February under the trees

and there were tulips amongst the firs. Elsie was twenty-three twenty-four

twenty-five and the underpass was dark and dense with light at the seams

where the trees were broken and the branches were reaching out for they

had witnessed her prayers, and there was promise in the wind, a promise

of better things.

I desire a partner in crime

I've grown tired of endless crying

I desire a partner in crime

I've grown tired of endless crying

Crying for nothing

The years flowed on and on like the wine that celebrated marriages of

friends and sisters. Elsie began to think that even if her wish

materialized she could not sacrifice a life that was so familiar: Lonely,

sad with an almost religious quality.

She remembered times spent in the old wood deep in prayer. Aching,

begging - thinking her heart might burst. Her friend had moved away

unannounced. She'd disappeared. There was no belief. And longer and

longer there was less to give. Less love to give. Of course there'd been

lovers but nothing close to what she'd hoped for. Before she'd felt electricity

swelling in her palms - but not now. Limp and hopeless life continued but

it wasn't really living. All she'd ever dreamed wished and yearned for had

been stolen and shot down:

And the sky it echoed a warning

And eternity was calling

And the sky it echoed a warning

And eternity was calling

Calling for nothing