Prelude: Saint of Cigarettes

LOVE HOLLAND — “PRELUDE: SAINT OF CIGARETTES”

(Soft strings, rain faintly tapping. A single note from a grand piano. Then, her voice — fragile, celestial.)

[Verse 1]
The rain’s been falling since nineteen sixty-nine,
When I wrote my name on the chapel sign,
Said “God forgive me, I’ve been divine,”
But divinity don’t pay the rent.
I kissed a man with a match in his hand,
He lit my lungs like contraband,
Said “Baby, you’re holy when you don’t pretend.”
And I never did since then.

[Pre-Chorus]
Oh, the saints don’t smoke, they sigh,
They float above the alibi—
And I,
I sold my wings for cherry wine.

[Chorus]
Call me the Saint of Cigarettes,
Burning prayers with every breath,
Holy water in my veins,
Perfume laced with hurricanes.
I learned to sin with elegance,
A rosary of consequence,
And if Heaven won’t take me yet—
Then let me stay in love’s regret.

(Strings swell; jazz percussion slips in like smoke through a keyhole.)

[Verse 2]
I danced with angels on silver roofs,
Their halos cracked, their tongues told truths,
They said, “Girl, you glow when the world disapproves.”
I said, “Darling, I was made for that.”
The moon was pale as a phantom limb,
The city coughed, the lights went dim,
And every prayer was a requiem—
For lovers who never came back.

[Bridge]
Oh, I wrote his name on a Marlboro pack,
Whispered my vows through a cul-de-sac,
And the choir sang from a Cadillac,
Like sinners in Sunday best.
(You can hear her voice break here—half sob, half aria.)

[Chorus]
Call me the Saint of Cigarettes,
Burning hymns I can’t forget,
Ashes fall like violet snow,
I keep them where the roses grow.
I loved a man who called me blessed,
He left his cross upon my chest,
And if Heaven won’t take me yet—
Then I’ll haunt the stars instead.

[Outro / Coda]
(Whispers layered in harmonies, almost ghostly.)
Amen for the lonely girls,
Lipstick saints, with smoky pearls,
We burn to live, we live to burn,
We die for lessons we’ll never learn.

(The orchestra fades. A final piano note rings, then silence. You hear her inhale—one last cigarette drag.)