The Red Shoes

Lyrics

[Intro]
(a waltz that begins prim and starts, quietly, to spin faster)

[Verse 1]
I chose the red ones for the pride of them, wore them into the pew,
watched the whole town watch my feet instead of the good I meant to do.
The old soldier tapped them once and grinned — "what fine shoes for the dance" —
and the moment the organ started up, my feet were out of my hands.

[Chorus]
Dance, dance — I can't stop the red shoes dancing,
past the churchyard, past the mercy, past the point of asking.
A loop that closes on itself is the cruelest kind of snare —
the wanting keeps on wanting when there's no more want to spare.

[Verse 2]
Through the briars and over the graves and around the sleeping town,
the vanity that lifted me was the thing that wore me down.
I begged the headsman at the crossroads, "take the feet to set me free" —
and the shoes danced on into the dark with the part that was still me.

[Bridge]
(the waltz stumbles, slows, aches)
A compulsion is a prayer with the answer stripped away —
you learn humility in the ash of everything you can't not obey.

[Outro]
On my two carved crutches I found the door I'd waltzed on by...
some peace you only reach on the far side of the thing that made you cry.