Pretty Polly

Polly was a girl not yet sixteen I met her by the lake in the fall Our love unfurled like a warm sick dream It's a shame I had to go and waste it all When we were together Everything was alright We shared everything you could share Easy like a feather til that warm wet night When she hit me with that hundred mile stare And then I couldn't let her go And of the child she would bear My arms were turning into rope I couldn't let her go I couldn't let her stay I buried pretty polly in a poor pathetic grave And there she lays stranded in the Tivoli parking lot No gas, no money, no love Promised to a promise that I wouldn't get caught But the dark sky handed me a dove And I couldn't let it go And all the beauty up above I could never control I couldn't let her go I couldn't let her stay I ran like hell I ran away I ran like hell from the hell I made From the mouth of the babes From the mouth of the bay Poor Pretty Polly The wolf and the prey