Back in the trees, where I learned to say "Please",
where I begged for a taste from the table,
she made me know there was need to go slow,
when she taught me to dance in the shadows.

Where were my hands that were mine to command?
Now they seemed to be somewhere in China.
She brought them back, God bless her for that!
when she taught me to dance in the shadows.

Oh, she could have laughed at me; oh, she could have left me for dead.
What did I know? Less than nothing; so I listened and did as she said.

And back in the grass I heard the moon pass,
I listened to stars spreading rumours.
With dawn coming fast, I murmured "At last"
"she had taught me to dance in the shadows."