[Verse 1] The velvet drapes conceal my tears, the wheels lament the way, Through ashen streets and autumn’s breath, we mourn this fateful day. They whisper low of debts and sins — of secrets left to rot, Yet none can name the tender vows that time has not forgot. [Verse 2] The cough that claimed thy fragile breath now haunts the hollow air, While painted lips behind their fans breathe words too dark to bear. “His fortune spent, his honour stained” — their poison drips unseen, Yet I recall thy trembling hand, so gentle and serene. [Chorus] Oh, why did you forsake me, love, and flee this cruel domain? Why trade our promised springtime bloom for winter’s pale refrain? Return, if but in fleeting dream, to still my breaking heart — For life bereft of thee, my dear, is but a world apart. [Verse 3] Now Highgate’s gates in silence yawn, to claim thee 'neath the yew, The preacher’s words like autumn leaves fall cold, yet ever true. And as the final clod descends upon thy faded name, I cast a gaze of ice and steel at those who spoke thy shame. [Chorus] Oh, why did you forsake me, love, and flee this cruel domain? Why trade our promised springtime bloom for winter’s pale refrain? Return, if but in fleeting dream, to still my breaking heart — For life bereft of thee, my dear, is but a world apart. [Bridge] Their murmur turns to silence now beneath my steady stare, For none may judge the bond we forged, nor love’s unyielding care. Though death hath torn thy hand from mine, our souls shall not divide, I’ll walk this shadowed road alone, with grief my only guide. And though the world remembers naught, my heart remembers still, The tender oaths we carved in youth, defying death’s cold will. [Chorus] Oh, why did you forsake me, love, and flee this cruel domain? Why trade our promised springtime bloom for winter’s pale refrain? Return, if but in fleeting dream, to still my breaking heart — For life bereft of thee, my dear, is but a world apart.
