Stranger - Schaffer The Darklord

At the corner of Orchard and Stanton on the square

Sipping booze at the slipper room, everyone was there

I met a stranger there, his eyes blood shot red

Face pale as a ghost, he spoke to me as he said

«Have you ever lost and loved?

Have you ever loved and lost?

You ever left a life of love and pain

And paid the highest cost?

I have

I fell in love with an angel in rays

But she was terminally ill

Doctors had given her days

She made, a final wish

That made my blood run cold

Wanted to go on her own terms

Awash in love’s throes

Said I’d rather die by you

In our passion so endless

Than in the I.C.U

In those tubes like a necklace

I took her hand in mine

I took her throat in the other

I watched the dying lights

Behind the final smile of my lover

I dressed her and I kissed her

Fled with little delay

Before the ambulance

Arrived to take my baby away»

«Down to St. James Infirmary

And I saw my baby there

She was stretched out

On a long, white table

So sweet, so cold, so fair»

«Now what was I to do?»

he asked

«Where was I to run?

Even if I got away

How could I live with what I’d done?

Even though I’d only honored

Her request to ease her leaving

I know there ain’t a juror

In the world who’d believe me

And since the thought of life

Without my lover was hell

I decided that I’d join her

With a final bow as well

Heart-broken, guilt-ridden

At my rope’s end

But first

I needed just to see her again

So I went down to that old hospital

Later that night

I snuck in and found her

Covered under flickering lights

A subtle smile still upon her face

Her body now breathless

And my hand print

Still lay upon her like a necklace

I kissed her cold lips

Removed a rose from my pocket

Made my way to the door

Before I froze and locked it

And there down in St. James

At half past nine

I made love to my baby

One last time"

«Down at St. James Infirmary

And I saw my baby there

She was stretched out

On a long, white table

So sweet, so cold, so fair»

The stranger told his tale

Downed his drink and he stood

He spoke to me a last request

His face like etched wood

He said

«When I die, bury me in straight-laced shoes

A posh black suit and sing the St. James Blues»

And slipped a twenty dollar bill inside my lapel

So I can tip the ferryman when I arrive in hell

I never caught his name

His face I never recognized

But his exit was the last time

That he was seen alive

Some said he was tragic

Some said he was reckless

When they found him that night

Wearing his belt like a necklace

And some cried about the wicked pleasures of men

But i smiled

Knowing soon they’d be together again

Down at St. James Infirmary

And they saw each other there

They were stretched out

On long, white tables

So sweet, so cold, so fair

Let her go

Let her go

God bless her

Wherever she may be

She may search

The whole world over

But she’ll never find

A man as depraved as he