[Intro][female Narrator] Almost the shell of a woman after the surgeon's knife! And almost a year to creep back into strength, Till the dawn of our wedding decennial Found me my seeming self again. [Instrumental Bridge] [Verse] We walked the forest together, By a path of soundless moss and turf. But I could not look in your eyes, And you could not look in my eyes, [Pre-Chorus] For such sorrow was ours the beginning of gray in your hair, [Drop] And I but a shell of myself. [Chorus] And I And I but a shell of myself. (of myself) [Instrumental Bridge] [Verse] And what did we talk of? — sky and water, Anything, 'most, to hide our thoughts. And then your gift of wild roses, Set on the table to grace our dinner. [Pre-Chorus] Poor heart, how bravely you struggled To imagine and live a remembered rapture! [Instrumental Bridge] [Bridge] Then my spirit drooped as the night came on, And you left me alone in my room for a while, As you did when I was a bride, poor heart. [Final Chorus] And I but a shell of myself. And I And I but a shell of myself. (of myself) [Instrumental Bridge] [Outro][Heartfell narrative] And I looked in the mirror and something said: "One should be all dead when one is half-dead — Nor ever mock life, nor ever cheat love." And I did it looking there in the mirror — [Drop] Dear, have you ever understood?