The Queen And The Soldier
The soldier came knocking upon the queen's doorHe said, "I am not fighting for you any more"The queen knew she'd seen his face someplace beforeAnd slowly she let him inside.
He said, "I've watched your palace up here on the hillAnd I've wondered who's the woman for whom we all killBut I am leaving tomorrow and you can do what you willOnly first I am asking you why."
Down in the long narrow hall he was ledInto her rooms with her tapestries redAnd she never once took the crown from her headShe asked him there to sit down.
He said, "I see you now, and you are so very youngBut I've seen more battles lost than I have battles wonAnd I've got this intuition, says it's all for your funAnd now will you tell me why?"
Well, the young queen, she fixed him with an arrogant eyeShe said, "You won't understand and you may as well not try"But her face was a child's and he thought she would cryBut she closed herself up like a fan.
She said, "I've swallowed a secret burning threadIt cuts me inside and often I've bled"He laid his hand then on top of her headAnd he bowed her down to the ground.
"Tell me how hungry are you? How weak you must feel ?As you are living here alone, and you are never revealedBut I won't march again on your battlefield"And he took her to the window to see.
And the sun, it was gold, though the sky, it was grayAnd she wanted more than she ever could sayBut she knew how it frightened her and she turned awayAnd would not look at his face again.
He said, "I want to live as an honest manTo get all I deserve and to give all I canAnd to love a young woman who I don't understandYour highness, your ways are very strange."
But the crown, it had fallen and she thought she would breakAnd she stood there, ashamed of the way her heart achedShe took him to the doorstep and she asked him to waitShe would only be a moment inside.
Out in the distance her order was heardAnd the soldier was killed, still waiting for her wordAnd while the queen went on strangling in the solitude she preferredThe battle continued on.