Mercy Brown

Jaundiced yellow light is flashing
Hanging above Church and Main
On the wind, the perfume lingers
Likewise, her Christian name

Fields of night hang close above her
The family lie in a dreamless sleep
Frost grows on the windowpanes
And the wind spins circles in the empty street

Shining white steeples
Rise from the ground
Ring all the bells you may
And brace for the kiss of Mercy Brown

By the paper mill, she wanders
Singing melodies to the clouds
A fox calls, but none does answer
Cross the green of hallowed ground

Quietly, beyond the threshold
A pale hand on the banister
Looks upon the sleepers there
And weeps at the memory of the way things were

Shining white steeples
Alarm the town
Ring all the bells you can
And brace for the kiss of Mercy Brown

Two lovers in the moonlights
Playing at hare and hounds
Leaves fall upon the hillside
Ruddy as the lips of young Miss Brown

Shining white steeples
Alarm the town
Ring all the bells you can
And brace for the kiss of Mercy Brown

Shining white steeples
Dawn in the dark
Be still your beating
Your beating heart

Be still your beating heart