Please don't cry

For the ghost and the storm outside

Will not invade this sacred shrine

Nor infiltrate your mind

My life down I shall lie

If the bogey-man should try

To play tricks on your sacred mind

To tease, torment, and tantalize

Wavering shadows loom

A piano plays in an empty room

There'll be blood on the cleaver tonight

And when darkness lifts and the room is bright

I'll still be by your side

For you are all that matters

And I'll love you to till the day I die

There never need be longing in your eyes

As long as the hand that rocks the cradle is mine

Ceiling shadows shimmy by

And when the wardrobe towers like a beast of prey

There's sadness in your beautiful eyes

Oh, your untouched, unsoiled, wondrous eyes

My life down I shall lie

Should restless spirits try

To play tricks on your sacred mind

I once had a child, and it saved my life

And I never even asked his name

I just looked into his wondrous eyes

And said : "never never never again"

And all too soon I did return

Just like a moth to a flame

So rattle my bones all over the stones

I'm only a beggar-man whom nobody owns

Oh, see how words as old as sin

Fit me like a glove

I'm here and here I'll stay

Together we lie, together we pray

There never need be longing in your eyes

As long as the hand that rocks the cradle is mine

As long as the hand that rocks the cradle is mine

Mine

Climb up on my knee, sonny boy

Although you're only three, sonny boy

You're - you're mine

And your mother she just never knew

Oh, your mother ...

As long ... as long ... as long

I did my best for her

I did my best for her

As long ... as long ... as long as ... as long

I did my best for her

I did my best for her

Oh