Mercy Brown

[Verse 1]

Jaundiced yellow light is flashing

Hanging above Church and Main

On the wind, her 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

[Chorus]

Shining white steeples

Rise from the ground

Ring all the bells you may

And brace for the kiss of Mercy Brown

[Verse 2]

By the paper mill, she wanders

Singing melodies to the clouds

A fox calls, but nonе does answer

Cross the green of hallowеd 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

[Chorus]

Shining white steeples

Alarm the town

Ring all the bells you can

And brace for the kiss of Mercy Brown

[Instrumental Interlude]

[Bridge]

Two lovers in the moonlight

Playing at hare and hounds

Leaves fall upon the hillside

Ruddy as the lips of young Miss Brown

[Chorus]

Shining white steeples

Alarm the town

Ring all the bells you can

Then brace for the kiss of Mercy Brown

Shining white steeples

Dawn in the dark

Be still, your beating

Your beating heart

[Post-Chorus]

Be still, your beating heart