She was so afraid Since her mother, white with time, Told her She was a failure She was so ashamed Of everything she said And everything she did For her mother, white with time Everything around her mother White with time And dirty Her mother was greedy with dirt Greedy Then she heard choirs of angels Singing choirs of angels Greedy angels Spitting glory on her failure That stardust of failure As if it was medicine that didn't work Any way Anyway The windows They were closed And the midwives had locked their doors They didn't understand And after all, what was there to understand? But the angels Sheer choirs of angels In a friendship No, more than a friendship It was a marriage A marriage made in the grave In the shivering night The searching of the river continued That bullet of searchlight That searchlight found her so cockleshell and sure Sick and tired of what she saw But cockleshell and sure Sure of what the world had offered a tired soul From Istanbul to Madrid From Reykjavik, to Bonn To Leipzig, to Leningrad To Shanghai, Pnonm Penh All so that it would be a stronger world A strong, though loving, world To die in