another way to go

"He let me eat my fill,
I had the lion's share.
The silver in my hand
Cost twice what I had earned
In all those nineteen years...
That lifetime of despair.
And yet he trusted me."



"I played the grateful serf,
And thanked him like I should.
But when the house was still,
I got up in the night.
Took the silver...
Took my flight!"



"You maintain he made a present of this silver?"

"That is right...
So, Messieurs, you may release him,
For this man has spoken true.
I commend you for your duty,
And God's blessing go with you."



"But remember this, my brother.
See in this some higher plan.
You must use this precious silver
To become an honest man."



"By the witness of the martyrs,
By the Passion and the Blood,
God has raised you out of darkness...
I have bought your soul for God!"



"What have I done?
Sweet Jesus, what have I done?
Become a thief in the night,
Become a dog on the run!"



"And have I fallen so far,
And is the hour so late,
That nothing remains but the cry of my hate?"



"The cries in the dark that nobody hears,
Here where I stand at the turning of the years?"



"One word from him and I'd be back,
Beneath the lash, upon the rack.
Instead he offers me my freedom.
I feel my shame inside me like a knife."



"He told me that I have a soul.
How does he know?
What spirit comes to move my life?
Is there another way to go?"



"I am reaching, but I fall...
And the night is closing in.
And I stare into the void...
To the whirlpool of my sin."



"I'll escape now from the world...
From the world of Jean Valjean.
Jean Valjean is nothing now.
Another story must begin!"