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 tantalise   Wavering shadows loom   A piano plays in an empty room   There'll be blood on the cleaver tonight   And when darknesss 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, wonderous 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 ...