Lyric

My dear Anthony

Forgive me. Or rather, never forgive me

Those ten minutes were the entirety of my life

The night the Opera’s chandeliers burned the shadows of fools

I was trembling like a lost child, and you picked me up

Beneath my black velvet mask, my heart was already in ruins

Until I heard, through the wall, the laughter of my husband and his whore

At first, you were merely an instrument of my revenge

A passing sacrifice to soothe my crushing despair

But the heat of your arms, your awkward, desperate tenderness

Ignited my frozen madness, breaking my heart of ice

To muffle the obscene sighs bleeding through the wall

I sank my teeth deep into the black lapel of your coat

In that suffocating dark, where a single cry would be our ruin

Wrinkled silk tangled with the scent of our sweating skin

What pierced through me was not hatred

But an inescapable, violent love... a love for you

Ever since that night, a heavy sickness has devoured me

It is not consumption that rots away my chest

But this maddening thirst to touch you just one more time

With every carriage that passes by, I search for your footsteps

Embracing your phantom until I cough up blood

I am sorry I ran away; I am sorry I remained a mirage

If I had shown you my face, these cursed chains of mine

Would have dragged you down into the flames of hell with me

So, before my own flame burns out, I wrote you these words

Beneath the freezing earth of Père-Lachaise

Even now, I shiver, reaching out for your hands

Those devoted, fervent fingers that, in that dark theater box

Held me until my very bones felt they would break

You painted over my despair with the vivid colors of ecstasy

Even reduced to bone and ash, I will ruminate on that ten-minute eternity

Ah, you came to me! You are here!

Kneeling in the mud before my gravestone, weeping!

Forgive this miserable woman who carved an eternal stigmata into your soul

But please, believe me just this once

It was never just a spiteful act against an unfaithful husband

In that total darkness, what my womb, what my very soul cried out for

Was only you. You alone in this entire world!

Oh, Anthony, please do not forget me

But do not remain a prisoner to my shadow

Without a voice, without even knowing each other’s names

That agonizing, tearing kiss we shared

I lay it at your feet as my ultimate penance

For inside your beating heart, I will continue to live, forever and always

I love you

My beautiful beloved

Please, walk into the light