everyone is making the wrong choice
everyone is settling down.
everyone is letting their bar slip, a bit;
everyone is marrying wrong.

but everyone else is happy,
and has companionship, and love, and a home.
who am i to say it’s better
to live miserable and alone?

kids, and a house, and a husband;
a beautiful family all your own.
me, i kiss no little children goodnight–
and i sleep in nobody’s arms.

everyone else is settling;
everyone else let their standards fall.
you, you keep yours high, so high;
too high to see anyone over them at all.

i dreamed a dream, and won’t let it die;
a dream that ended with you.
to settle, and be happy, or to dream and be alone–
is this what it’s coming to?

everyone made the wrong choice
but they’re happy, and faithful, and strong.
who am i to say misery is better?
who am i to say they’re wrong?

all i ever wanted was a family;
but i’ve waited for that dream too long.
kept a dream alive, till it consumed me whole;
i think i knew this all along.

who am i to say i’m better?
perhaps i am the one who was wrong.

I’ve lost my way so long now
This heart was once my home.
It’s not your fault, don’t say so;
How could you have known?

They lifted off your burden
And threw it in the flames.
Your strength in secrecy’s gone, dear
Burning are all your games.

And I know this time they’ve won
When you’re dead you’re not alone.
And I know the road goes on
And no one will come to take me home.

They promised me adventure
And mountains filled with gold
As if any bribe was strong enough
To take me from all I’ve known.

And you say this fire’s hellworm
Wreaked horrors still unknown
But this small thieving innocent
Will win you back your home.

And I know this time they’ve won
When you’re dead you’re not alone.
And I know the road goes on
And no one will come to take me home.

And yet I am still wandering–
“I cannot guarantee
His safety or his fate here”–
It seems that’s up to me.

To find you still had innocence
By losing what you had left.
It’s a bloody system to me, dear;
To only live by tasting death.

I miss my books and hearth so
All I have left’s the sting–
Can you still keep on fighting
When you’re losing everything?

And I know this time they’ve won
When you’re dead you’re not alone.
And I know the road goes on
And no one will come to take me home.

they all say
i should have known.
should have left you standing alone.

they all say
this was just a lark.
i should have known this from the start.

i can’t agree–
was it my fault
to follow you with my whole heart?

don’t lie here now
was it really my fault
that loving you tore me apart?

loving you tore me apart.

they laugh it off
expect of me the same.
they don’t know you changed the game.

they laugh at me
to still mourn your loss.
if this was my dream, it’s not worth the cost.

can i agree–
was it my fault
to follow you with my whole heart?

don’t lie to me, dear–
was it really my fault
loving you tore me apart?

loving you tore me apart.

stuck in this hell-hole
stuck in the wait.
wishing you’d open when i knocked on your gate.

in limbo forever
to dwell on my loss.
i wish that we were worth the cost.

my dearest heartbreak
was it my fault
to believe you with my whole heart?

my sweetest agony
was it my fault
to love you with all my heart?

was it my fault.

you tore me apart.

I don’t know how to handle
This different road you take.
One step out of your little door
And you’re swept right on off your feet.

I don’t know how to contradict
Your very English sensibility.
Of meadows and beer and pipes and green–
All things sentimentality.

And then you find yourself in fire
And fortune and burning and crimson and flight.
And brilliant boldness and terrored truthfulness
That drags you off into the night.

The fire smolders deep in the heart
All locked in their pale burning gold.
But the road goes ever on and on
Drawing you onward away from home.

If the lights on the mountain flicker out
And your adventure taints with secrets untold–
When the darkness creeping closes in
I’ll be the one your heart calls home.

I don’t know how to reconcile
The adventure and what you left.
A dim foreshadowing of returning so broken;
But you’ll merely return changed.

With a ring on your finger, but appearances deceive;
I’m not what you thought I was.
So smooth, so certain, so kindly there;
So soon becoming your heart’s only drug.

The fire smolders deep in the heart
All locked in their pale burning gold.
But the road goes ever on and on
Drawing you onward away from home.

If the lights on the mountain flicker out
And your adventure taints with secrets untold–
When the darkness creeping closes in
I’ll be the one your heart calls home.

I didn’t mean to make you lie;
That was entirely you.
I didn’t mean to deceive;
You just didn’t want the truth.

I’m with you, forever, I want you to know
I’ll never let you go.
I’m with you, forever, I’ll never leave you now;
Even when you want it to.

The fire smolders deep in the heart
All locked in their pale burning gold.
But the road goes ever on and on
Drawing you onward away from home.

If the lights on the mountain flicker out
And your adventure taints with secrets untold–
When the darkness creeping closes in
I’ll be the one your heart calls home.

I’ll be your little secret;
No one else will know.
When the darkness encircles us in its ring
I’ll be your only home.