Five Minutes

Each night she lays quivering, shivering here*
 Asking why she keeps forgiving him, living in fear
 At work she has a glistening, driven career
 But at home with one swing of the fist, it disappears.
 Each night she lays quivering, shivering here
 Asking why she keeps forgiving him, living in fear
 At work she has a glistening, driven career
 But at home with one swing of the fist, it disappears.
 She dreamed of different ways to break from under his noose grip
 It's one thing to see a path but it's another to choose it
 It's one thing to want to run but it's another to do it
 It's one thing to buy a gun but it's another to use it.
 But buy a gun she did and it made her feel good
 She told herself if she really had to use it, she would
 The next night, drunk at the end of the bed he stood
 She said she'd take it no more and she prayed he understood.
 But he didn't take to kindly to being put in his place
 She fled after the first blow and of course, he gave chase
 She sat hunched, holding the gun praying she wasn't pursued
 But when the door swung, a ruby red fountain ensued.
 She watched in awe as his power cascaded on the floor
 It wasn't long before Police came bursting through the door
 In store, a new prison, enforced by the law
 As she let out a whisper with the strength of a roar.
 For the bad times I wish you'd just admit and never cast a shadow across my bed
 And for the good times I wish you five minutes in Heaven before the Devil knows you're dead.
 For the bad times I wish you'd just admit and never cast a shadow across my bed
 And for the good times I wish you five minutes in Heaven before the Devil knows you're dead.
 Each night she lays quivering, shivering there
 I find myself giving the delivering stares
 As the smell of Glenfiddich starts sieving the air.
 Each night she lays quivering, shivering there
 I wonder how we came to live in unforgiving despair
 I find myself giving the delivering stares
 As the smell of Glenfiddich starts sieving the air.
 As the bullet flew towards me, I swear time stood still
 I felt every single emotion that a man could feel
 How did I get here? How could this even be real?
 How could I become a person that a loved one could kill?
 It wasn't always this way; I once saw love in those eyes
 That now just despise and chastise all my lies
 My sarcastic replies, each new drunken guise
 And most all, these heavy hands that surmised our demise.
 There was a time we never thought the honeymoon would end
 She was my wife, my love, my confidant and my friend
 But it seems these days happiness can depend
 On financial stability and the need to contend.
 But I make no excuse, I let it get this way
 Other people live their lives on the minimum wage
 I was the one that couldn't cope and let it turn to rage
 Now I'm looking down the barrel playing guess the gauge.
 For the bad times I cannot be acquitted or let off as the bullet enters my head
 For the good times I wish for five minutes in Heaven before the Devil knows I'm dead.
 For the bad times I cannot be acquitted or let off as the bullet enters my head
 For the good times I wish for five minutes in Heaven before the Devil knows I'm dead.
 Before the Devil knows I'm dead.