They tell me I am all right now
They tell me I can go out in the sun
They tell me the mark is gone from my brow
They tell me the battle is won--
So why do I feel betrayed and alone
When I lie with my husband at night?
Why am I no longer happy just being all right?
They tell me I am all right now
They tell me I have beaten the curse
They tell me that I was enslaved to the devil
In danger of death or far worse--
So why do I long for the keenness of senses
Made dull by the sun's cruel light?
Why can I not be content to be merely all right?
Two old foreign men have fought over me to the death
And the older man lost
And now I am saved and with every breath
I count the unbearable cost
For a moment I've seen what my life could have been
But I'll never know freedom again
Just the nightmare unending of wise condescending
Complacent contemptible men
They tell me that he was a demon
They tell me he'd killed men for play
But I saw the sadness and pain in his eyes
That only true death washed away
That other man talked about souls now at peace
But he only lived for the fight
And now there is nothing to be, except simply all right
I could have been ageless, immortal and fair
And joined my dark prince in his flight
But now he is dead, and I . . . I'm simply all right
Condemned to a short, bitter lifetime of being all right