I burned all the love letters I had ever receivednAnd I took the hot ashes and laid them at the cold queen's feetnBut she didn't shed a tear at allnShe just gave the order to raise a wallnTo keep the lovers out and the others innThen I was free to leavennWell I thought it was safe to turn around rest and relaxnWhat with all those familiar faces piled up in the pastnBut with a trail so scorched and torn and poorly patchednThere are holes that pull the precious into a collapsenIf you stop to blinknnSo don't be surprisednIf your memory diesnAnd your will simply fadesnLike a marching paradenDwindling down a dark streetnDid your heart skip a beatnOr did time pass you bynWhile you were wiping the sand from your eye?nnI thought you were going to follow me through these lonesome valleysnBut now I'm facing scraping this stone wall all alonenAnd all the ghosts who once pursued menAnd routinely abused menThey're no longer enthused enoughnTo do me any wrongnSo it goesnnI ran across a stranger who said he knew me whennHe said Last I heard you were in need of some oxygennSo tell me how can you hear the phone to saynThat there ain't nobody home todaynWhen you're drifting along the bottom of the ocean?nI said I'm afraid we've never metnnSo don't be surprisednIf your memory diesnAnd your will simply fadesnLike a marching paradenDwindling down a dark streetnDid your heart skip a beatnOr did time pass you bynWhile you were wiping a tear from your eye?