The angels are weeping
over Selmer, Tennessee
where the charge is murder
in the first degree with a mandatory
death penalty

    the victim was the preacher
    4th St Church of Christ
    killer was his shy little pretty
    loving wife

                        I love you and I'm sorry
                        were the last words that she said
                        shot his big-boned body face
                        down in the bed

                        took the girls in the mini-van and ran
                        how could she explain to them
                        what she herself couldn't understand

left behind the high-heel clogs and the hooker wig
but she couldn't leave behind the shame
or the stain of the original sin

    was it accident or predestination
        she wept as she thought about
            her little congregation
        they all sang hallelujah . . . .

she drove all night to Gulf Shores
took a cottage by the beach
till she was spotted by the authorities
she waived extradition went home to face perdition

the town was in shock as it tried to understand
how its innocence could have
blood-stained hands

    was it accident or predestination
                                                                      The angels wept but didn't offer any explanation
                                                                                they all sang hallelujah . . . .