owner of a broken heart

i know you love me, you love me though the world’s on fire

your secret angels bear witness in their silent choir

oh we can build up our palace

four walls and kids in the yard

it’s all a circus to the owner of a broken heart

i met the prom queen, the widow of a family man

she said it’s crazy how life looks nothing like we planned

wrong place and wrong occupation

we drove here in the dark

i said you’re telling me, the owner of a broken heart

i get to wondering if people even see how i’m down

the tears I’m crying, they must appear like those of a clown

i stand unnoticed, unheeded

i stand alone and apart

i stand defeated as the owner of a broken heart

i could be captain, I could be ruler of the seas

i could find jesus, see heaven in the streets and the trees

i could be richer than bezos

more famed than elvis by far

i’d still be nothing but the owner of a broken heart

i think of lovers, of juliet and romeo

they found the cloister or the grave the only ways to go

i think of tristan and issy

i think of pete abelard

i think they’d understand the owner of a broken heart

i stand before you, the writer of a hundred songs

you do not hear them, you turn and they’re forever gone

i stand accused of betrayal

i stand beside my art

I stand before you:  the owner of a broken heart

written by tom yates 20 august 2019