Take my blood and take my marrow,
Scrape the meal from my bone,
Pierce my heart if you please,
With your arrow,
But Veda, my darling,
Come home.
Darling child, for you I labor,
Grease and glass in my skin,
Though you sneer, and crack wise
I won't waver, but
Veda, my darling,
Come in, come in.
Sweet thing, let me dress you for bed,
Now slip that gown off your head,
I'll kiss you one thousand times, my angel.
Close your eyes, and my savage mind
Will fashion a day when you'd be tender,
When you'd be kind.
For you see the
Star beneath which you were delivered
Gave you cold-hearted pride,
You look down on your mother who loves you;
You take without grace - though it smarts -
I don't mind.
If your lover has done you wrong, you
Slipped as you gripped his gun
And found yourself o'er his
Lifeless body.
Child, I'd rush to turn myself in and
Claim that it was my sin,
To spare you.
Yes, for darling
In this town of light and shadow
Dreams become crooked and low,
If I've lost my way it was only to please you,
But Veda, my darling, you already know.