The Actor The Incredible String Band

The actor leaves the stage with a rose in his hand
He settles in the back seat, his thoughts are like fine sand
Driven through the rain swept streets casting a melancholy stare
Upon two enraptured lovers kissing without a care

The dreams of an actor spill slowly by
Like the thoughts of a dreamer or the casting of a die
Talking to gay fellows of the follies on which they perch
But he saw a lovely lady beneath the arches of a church

Cigarettes in the airless twenties
And an estate well filled with dust
In the evening reading Swinburne
Eating mightily with some false lust
But a kiss was what we found
What we found, what we found
On damp but friendly ground

The lady wore no makeup but she stood like a swan
Thin body of a dancer, her dress was quietly torn
Her eyes, they searched his distant heart that lingered in the ram
But his friends caught his iron gaze and carried it away again

Broken-hearted in the loveless twenties
Where a wink was like an embrace
Making love on blue Fridays
From across some foggy space
But a kiss was what we found
What we found, what we found
On damp but friendly ground