Shattered Tile Everywhere

She left no statue unturned
She left no window without a stain
She took the gavel from the magistrate
And gave an anonymous man back his nameWe met in a grand hotel where the drains didn’t work
Just the clothes on our backs in a closet behind the clerk
I said please oh please don’t break this heart of mine tonight
She said, “OK, but some other time, I might.”

I took her to the opera, I took her to the ballroom dance
Or perhaps she took me
I didn’t stand a chance
All I can say is it must be some affair
That leaves shattered tile everywhere

Water from the hills made the fountains flow
The sound came like a ghost through our open window
Or was it just voices from the courtyard below?
What is was saying to me, I didn’t want to know

The streets had been flooded for centuries
Like veins carved into the ocean for all eternity
She said, “They’re not going anywhere, so come with me.
This is not where I am meant to be.”

I took her to Rome, I took her to Belgium and France
Or perhaps she took me
I didn’t stand a chance
All I can say is it must be some affair
That leaves shattered tile everywhere

We made love in a church with angels in the rafters
Climbed the endless marble stairs to the finite hereafter
Bid farewell to the tomb of a martyr, unmarked and unused
And to the bombs in the countryside yet to be defused

The road behind us was long
The road ahead was gone
We stood on the valley with the river dried out below
And tried our best to make a home

She took me to Rome, she took me to the ballroom dance
It was not meant to be, but at least I had the chance
All I can say is it must have been some affair
That still leaves shattered tile everywhere