BEN SANDS: Listen

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IN BERLIN
Words & Music: Ben Sands
@1998

She sits all alone in her flat in Berlin
It's a Saturday night and there'll be no-one in;
She turns on the radio, pours a small gin
For there's no-one else there, her story to share
and no-one much cares
in Berlin.

Out through the window the traffic below
carves hard and fast lines in the freshly fell snow;
back come the memories from long years ago
of a nightingale's song, arms young and strong,
when the days weren't so long
in Berlin,

Her sister keeps writing to ask her to stay
And she means to go meet her in Hamburg some day
But until then, she stays in Berlin

The radio's playing an old forties' tune
she remembers they danced to it under the moon.
They danced until dawn and then slept until noon -
Ah the walks in the snow, just herself and her beau,
such a long time ago
in Berlin

He sent her a letter and asked her to meet
at the shop on the corner of Bismarcker Street;
But the meeting meant parting - he showed her a sheet
With his orders to go to the barracks below,
kissed goodbye in the snow
in Berlin

He went to the East with the other young men
and she never heard anything from him since then.
But she harbours the hope he might come back again -
Those thoughts, bitter-sweet of that last chance to meet,
on the Bismarcker Street
in Berlin

Her sister keeps writing to ask her to stay..........

She lays out a table-cloth checked white and blue
Then places a supper with settings for two
As on this day each year since 1942
when darkness and war took the light from her stars,
now her veil hides the scars
in Berlin

Her sister keeps writing to ask her to stay..........