The queen and the soldier

Interprète : Suzanne Vega

1. The [LAm]soldier came knocking up[FA2]on the queen's door
He said, "[DO2*2]I am not [SOL4/SI]fighting for [DO2*2]you anym[SOL]ore."
And the [LAm]queen knew she'd see his face[FA2] some place before,
And [DO2*2]slowly she [SOL4/SI]let him ins[DO2*2]ide.
He said, "I watch your palace up here on the hill
And I've wondered who's the woman for whom we all kill.
But I am leaving tomorrow and you can do what you will.
Only first I am asking you why."
[FA2]Down the long narrow [DO/MI*2]hall he was led
[RE7/4]Into her room with her [RE7]tapestries [REm7]red,
And [LAm]she never once took the cr[FA2]own from her head.
[DO2*2]She asked him [SOL4/SI]there to sit d[DO2*2]own.
2. He said, "I see you now and you are so very young,
But I've seen more battles lost than I have battles won,
And I've got this intuition says it's all for your fun.
And now will you tell me why ?"
Well, the young queen, she fixed him with an arrogant eye.
She said, "You won't understand and you may as well not try."
But her face was a child's and he thought she would cry,
But she closed herself up like a fan.
And she said, "I have swallowed a secret burning thread.
It cuts me inside and often I bled."
And he laid his hand then on the top of her head,
And he bowed her down to the ground.
3. "And tell me, how hungry are you,
How weak you must feel
As you are living here alone
And you are never revealed.
But 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 grey.
And she wanted more
Than she ever could say.
But she know how it frightened her
And she turned away
And would not look at his face again.
And he said, "I want to live as an honest man,
To get all I deserve and to give all I can
And to love a young woman
Who I don't understand.
Your Highness your ways are very strange."
4. But the crown, it had fallen,
And she thought she would break,
And she stood there ashamed
Of the way her heart ached.
And she took him to the doorstep
And she asked him to wait,
She would only
Be a moment inside.
And out in a distance
Her order was heard,
And the soldier was killed
Still waiting for her word.
And while the queen went on strangling
In the solitude she preferred,
The battle continued on.

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