The Curse (4:15)

At four a.m. on a Saturday morn
He walked home through the trembling light of dawn

He found her alone as he'd left her there;
Without a word he stripped himself bare

He took the knife from his old coat:
Without a thought he ran it through her throat

And to this day,
He couldn't tell you why
She had to die

She was older than him
And wiser too
She'd seen things he'd never seen
Done things he'd never do

He thought of her smile
As he ran from the place
Though memories fade
To the end he'd be lost in her face

He fled into the night
Sought the quietude of travel
But though he ran a thousand roads
Her dying face would not unravel

He shot straight through to Sydney
Where the blackened buildings weep
But the burning lights and clacking trains
Tampered with his sleep

In Melbourne he smoked opium
And it helped to keep him warm
But it filled his mind with nightmares
All dripping with her form

He fled back to the country
Where this nightmare had been born
To the white gums
And the quiet dawns

And to this day,
He couldn't tell you why
She had to die

In cars and bars he talked to men
Under the star he talked to women
They told him stories
He told them lies

Sometimes he hinted at his true fate
A darkness clawing from his past
And the Koories they all shunned him
Another cursed man but not the last

After a time he met a girl
A pretty girl to share his sorrow
He loved her like a saviour
She loved him like tomorrow

He was older than her
Someone she could trust
And her young curves
Washed his pain away in lust

They got a place
By the edge of town
And from the porch
They'd watch the sun go down

And it was four a.m. on a Saturday morn
That she walked home through the trembling light of dawn

That she found him alone as she'd left him there;
And that, without a word, she stripped herself bare

That she found the knife in his old coat:
And that without a thought she ran it through his throat

And to this day,
She couldn't tell you why
He had to die