Paul Shapera - Annabel's Lament

ANNABELLE:
Ghosts of dreams, ghosts of memory
that will not leave or lay in quiet
Ghosts that cry about the life
you let go by

Ghosts of pasts of little girls who
learned their math, grasped their facts
Tried their best to reach success
just as they were asked

The girl learns to hide, deep inside
of fractions and facts and worlds of math
A long lonely land she can understand
Annabelle in Numberland

You could have been my angel
been my angel. been my angel and been with me
Could have been my angel
been my angel, been my angel and rescued me


Ghosts of love you never knew, you
just construed like well penned plays
Ghosts of scenes, embraces, things
you only knew in dreamt up days

Ghosts of frowns for little girls when
friends came round to waste her time
Ghosts of creeds, rebukes received
Children are not what achievers need

Fractions and maths, sweet companions,
equations and facts who always stand
by as you go your road alone
Annabelle in Numberland

You could have been my angel
been my angel, been my angel and been with me
You could have been my angel
been my angel, been my angel and rescued me


Ghosts of me, ghosts of who
i could be and been with you
Ghosts of dreams, of who you thought
you'd one day be when you grew up

Ghosts of breath, of little girls
who promised, stressed they'd be their best
Ghosts of days that fade away
as failure holds your hand til Death

And deep in the place you escape where
theorems and thoughts your hopes and plans
all are derailed and then you failed them
Annabelle in Numberland

Liquids and labs, fractions and facts,
are all you had, all that you understand
and as you age all that remains with
Annabelle in Numberland

You could have been my angel
Been my angel, been my angel and been with me
You could have been my angel
My angel, been my angel and rescued me
My angel, my angel
My angel and been with me
My angel, my angel

(Annabelle takes an axe and destroys the doll.)