Listen to the track:
No Witness Under the Moon
This song tells the haunting story of Elizabeth Avent, a young servant girl from Wembury. Walking home across Gabber Bridge in 1825, she was confronted and silenced by a man from Knighton. Weeks later, her case reached court, but her quietness and delay in telling her mother about the attack was used against her, and the jury set him free. The song gives voice to the fear, doubt, and injustice she carried alone.
No Witness Under the Moon
Verse 1
Night falls at Gabber Bridge
Her shoes are wet with clay
The lane is empty, only wind
No lantern lights the way
Verse 2
A figure waits in shadow
The man from Knighton came
He asks her where she walks so late
He tells her turn again
Chorus (inner torment)
Did I draw him near unknowing
Would they say I gave a sign
No eyes but mine in silence
No witness under the moon
Do I speak, or hold silence
Tell my mother or hold my tongue
Who will the jury believe
The man from Knighton or me
Verse 3
His hand was on her waist
The apron in her mouth
Dragged across the hedgerow
Her voice pressed down, pressed out
Verse 4
She carried it for weeks
A cousin held her trust
The court would ask why she was still
So quiet when she must
Chorus (inner torment)
Did I draw him near unknowing
Would they say I gave a sign
No eyes but mine in silence
No witness under the moon
Do I speak, or hold silence
Tell my mother or hold my tongue
Who will the jury believe
The man from Knighton or me
Verse 5 (trial)
The judge looked down, the jury turned
Her silence used against her
The gavel fell, the man walked free
Her voice was cast aside
Outro
No witness under the moon
No one to carry her name
She lingers still at Gabber Bridge
Elizabeth in the rain