Partner in Crime

It happened in the summer not so very long ago
It was so warm and humid
Elsie would go down to the old wood
And pray for the wind to come
She had a friend who swore you could evoke the angels simply by prayer
She said "There are angels for every desire but you must believe, you have to believe,"
So by the time the sun was buried along with the stale air
A plan had formed very clearly in her mind
She was a lonely girl of around twenty or so
And as she knelt down to pray in the old wood under the town
Her heart would beg and plead

I desire a partner in crime
I've grown tired of endless crying
I desire a partner in crime
I've grown tired of endless crying
Crying for nothing

And the roses hung their weary heads
Like people do when they are heavy and without hope
The seasons passed
January, February under the trees
And there were tulips amongst the firs
Elsie was twenty-three, twenty-four, twenty-five
And the underpass was dark and dense
With light at the seams
Where the trees were broken and the branches were reaching out
For they had witnessed her prayers
And there was promise in the wind
A promise of better things

I desire a partner in crime
I've grown tired of endless crying
I desire a partner in crime
I've grown tired of endless crying
Crying for nothing

The years flowed on and on
Like the wine that celebrated marriages
Of friends and sisters
Elsie began to think that even if her wish materialized
She could not sacrifice a life that was so familiar: Lonely
Sad, with an almost religious quality
She remembered times spent in the old wood deep in prayer
Aching, begging
Thinking her heart might burst

Her friend had moved away unannounced
She'd disappeared
There was no belief
And longer and longer there was less to give
Less love to give
Of course there'd been lovers
But nothing close to what she'd hoped for
Before she'd felt electricity swelling in her palms
But not now
Limp and hopeless, life continued
But it wasn't really living
All she'd ever dreamed wished and yearned for
Had been stolen and shot down

And the sky, it echoed a warning
And eternity was calling
And the sky, it echoed a warning
And eternity was calling
Calling for nothing