As Good As You

ROCHESTER
Love!
Love is like a virus we're infected with
You're so naive
Wouldn't it be wonderful
If life was just as you perceive?
Women are inhuman, worthless
Coarse and savage
On the average
Never to be trusted
Completely maladjusted, it's true
But if I'd not loved a few
I might have been as good as you
She was my flame, my gallic sylph
I was her fool's delight
She put me in her spell and turned my
Rage to trust in just one night
With appetites for pleasure
We would search for buried treasure
In the excess of temptation
I thought it my salvation, it's true
And if I had thought things through
I might have been as good as you
She found me handsome
My opera dancer
And like a fool I believed it was true
I held the world inside my hands, a man
Full in his prime
When she left me for another
Pierced my heart a second time
"Nothing lasts forever," she said
"Find the door yourself, dear, won't you?
Think me still your flower
I've treasured every hour, it's true
But if I had loved you, too
I might have been as good as you."
I came upon her some time later
The years had not been very kind
She had this child, Adele
Said she was mine, as well
"Nothing lasts forever, Edward
Take good care and, oh yes
Won't you take our lovely daughter?
For you see, dear, I don't want her
But I'm still your flower
I'll just bloom elsewhere
Tell her my soul is in heaven, with God"
Miss Eyre, I tell you this
Because I want you to know
That I, with some luck
Without shame, without blame
Or the curse of my name
Might have been as good as you