Elvis Costello Speak Darkly My Angel lyrics

Speak darkly, my angel
Or do I have to plead?
The sweetness has gone out of it
And all that's left is bitter barren greed

A needy lover with her almost vanished liar
Entangled as the gloom is strangled by the clinging brier
That ventures out to gather in the gloom

That perfect mouth is ruined now
For as you turn down the corners of your smile
And cloud your dim corrupted eyes
Just before the concertina wrecks your noble brow
The fatal flaw I can't allow


Depart now, my angel
The gaoler of my youth
Sends fifty thousand reasons
Why I never ever try to tell the truth
The season's over

And it's time for either one of us to go
Stand by the window
But don't lean so temptingly into the drop that calls below
For if you tumble back
I look so good in black