If I Can’t Love Her

If I Can’t Love Her
Words by Tim Rice
Music by Alan Menken

And in my twisted face
There’s not the slightest trace
Of anything that even hints of kindness
And from my tortured shape
No comfort, no escape
I see, but deep within is utter blindness

Hopeless, as my dream dies
As the time flies, love, a lost illusion
Helpless, Unforgiven, Cold and driven
To this sad conclusion

No beauty could move me
No goodness improve me
No power on earth
If I can’t love her

No passion could reach me
No lesson could teach me
How I could have loved her
And make her love me too
If I can’t love her, then who?

Long ago I should have seen
All the things I could have been
Careless and unthinking, I moved onward

No pain could be deeper
No life could be cheaper
No point anymore
If I can’t love her

No spirit could win me
No hope left within me
Hope I could have loved her
And that she’d set me free

But it’s not to be
If I can’t love her
Let the world be done with me!