Mrs. Lovett

 I used to listen for your footsteps on the roof, used to sneak a glance out the window when you traipsed down the stairs outside

Me, down in the bakery feeding Albert, oaf of a husband with gout

You, up in the shop, barbering, that pretty thing at your side

What a miracle, I thought, when Albert finally passed, with a little bit of help

I finally had a chance

But then there was that pretty thing

And the Judge who wanted that promised pretty thing

He sent you away, had you committed, but I never forgot

Neither did she, that poor thing, and drank arsenic to drown the pain

Not enough to die, but just enough to wind up in bedlam and then on the streets

I kept my eyes on the pies, could usually get six or seven from a pussycat

After seventeen years, you came back, but you were no longer the Benjamin Barker I knew

You were something the poor thing could never have

You were Sweeney Todd

You, the ace of spades upon your blades, rose above the power of a mere man

Slashing the throats of men in your vendetta

You became a demon

And I loved you for it

My fondness grew ever stronger

You, painting red smiles on the necks of your customers in the shop above

Me, grinding their skin and muscles into meat for my pies below

It was perfect, we were perfect, and with the boy, Toby, we were a family

And for once in my miserable life, I was happy

I couldn’t just let that go, even when I saw her, that poor thing, lying next to the grinder

You didn’t know you killed her, yet here she was

Had to hide her, had to erase her, grind her up or she would destroy my happiness

And like the fool I was, I screamed, desperate to cling onto the happy life I had

Then you came through the cellar doors and saw her, recognized that poor thing

The salty air of the seaside escaped my lungs

Couldn’t breathe, couldn’t think except to say

“Could that thing now care for you like me?”

You came at me, eyes wide, and I thought you were finally going to rest your blade in me

But then we began to dance, and I felt the sunshine of the beach flicker on my face

We could still be together, still be a family, everything would be alright

Then that sunshine became blistering, burning, scorching, melting, raging, searing, hateful

FIRE

My charred spirit looked on as you wept over that poor thing, darling Toby donned your blade

And you bled over that poor thing

And I smiled, for here we were

One happy family