THE LAST DANCE CARD | A Tragic Storytelling Waltz

[00:00:04]The card [sighs] is worn.

[00:00:09]The ink has faded.

[00:00:15]Yet one name remains.

[00:00:27]The ballroom glittered gold and white on a snowy December [singing] night.

[00:00:35][music] You kissed my hand beneath the light [music] and promised you to return.

[00:00:47]You [music] signed your name upon my card.

[00:00:51]One final dance [singing] before departure.

[00:00:57]The orchestra played through [music] the dark while candles softly burned.

[00:01:07]The train [music] pulled out at break of dawn.

[00:01:12]I watched until [singing] the smoke [music] was gone.

[00:01:17]Never knowing [singing] in my heart that it was our last [singing] goodbye.

[00:01:26]Letters came through spring and rain.

[00:01:30]>> [music] >> Then silence [singing] carried all the pain.

[00:01:37]But I could never bring myself to cross your name away. So I leave one space [music and singing] empty at the end of every song.

[00:01:55][music and singing] Through the years and through the sorrow, though the waiting [singing] feels [music] so long.

[00:02:08]Every dance belongs to strangers.

[00:02:12]>> [music] >> Every smile must fall apart.

[00:02:18]But forever [singing] there [music] is one line upon my last dance card.

[00:02:28]The seasons turned, [music] the decades flew.

[00:02:31]>> [singing] >> The girls I knew all vanished, too.

[00:02:33]Silver found [music] its way into the mirror looking back. Yet every [singing] winter I return to where the crystal chandeliers burned, holding [music] tightly to the dream that time [singing] could never crack. Many asked me for [music] that place, the final line [singing] upon the page, but every year I heard your voice [music] and quietly said, "No."

[00:03:01]They all said time would heal the wound, that love forgotten fades too soon.

[00:03:11]Yet every year I saw your [singing] face across the room.

[00:03:20]So I leave one space empty at the end of every song.

[00:03:31]Through the years and through the sorrow, [music] though the waiting feels so [music] long.

[00:03:41]Every dance belongs to strangers.

[00:03:46]Every smile must fall apart.

[00:03:50]But forever there [music] is one line upon my last dance card.

[00:03:58]>> [screaming] >> Snow was falling soft that night.

[00:04:05]The chandeliers were burning bright.

[00:04:08][music and singing] When a gentleman in black appeared, and bowed his head to me.

[00:04:19]"May I claim the final dance?"

[00:04:23]His voice drifted through the hall.

[00:04:28]A voice I'd heard [singing] inside my dreams for half a century.

[00:04:37]The room grew quiet all around us. Tears [music] fell gently to the ground. And when [singing] I placed my hand in his, the years all disappeared.

[00:04:51]>> [music] >> Now the room is growing distant.

[00:04:58]>> [music] >> And the orchestra plays along.

[00:05:04]All the years between us vanish [music and singing] as we turn beneath the snow.

[00:05:14]Hand in hand, we cross the silence [music] where no war can leave its scar. [music] At last, you've come to find me for the final [music] dance upon my card.

[00:05:33]No more waiting by the window.

[00:05:38]No more counting every star.

[00:05:43]At last, [music] you've come to take me for final dance upon my card.

[00:05:53]>> [music] >> The music [singing] faded into light.

[00:06:01]The ballroom vanished from her sight.

[00:06:06]The card slipped gently from [music] her hand.

[00:06:11]Its final line >> [music] >> at last >> [music] >> was signed.

[00:06:26]>> [music] >> Was signed.

[00:06:32]>> [music] [music]