[ti:The Queen and the Soldier]
[ar:Suzanne Vega]
[00:19.411]The  soldier  came  knocking  upon  the  queen's  door
[00:23.659]He  said,"I  am  not  fighting  for  you  any  more"
[00:28.659]The  queen  knew  she'd  seen  his  face  someplace  before
[00:33.667]And  slowly  she  let  him  inside.
[00:38.431]He  said,"I've  watched  your  palace  up  here  on  the  hill
[00:43.71]And  I've  wondered  who's  the  woman  for  whom  we  all  kill
[00:47.805]But  I  am  leaving  tomorrow  and  you  can  do  what  you  will
[00:52.915]Only  first  I  am  asking  you  why."
[00:58.995]Down  in  the  long  narrow  hall  he  was  led
[01:02.911]Into  her  rooms  with  her  tapestries  red
[01:07.538]And  she  never  once  took  the  crown  from  her  head
[01:12.546]She  asked  him  there  to  sit  down.
[01:19.846]He  said,"I  see  you  now,and  you  are  so  very  young
[01:24.786]But  I've  seen  more  battles  lost  than  I  have  battles  won
[01:29.224]And  I've  got  this  intuition,says  it's  all  for  your  fun
[01:34.660]And  now  will  you  tell  me  why?"
[01:39.738]The  young  queen,she  fixed  him  with  an  arrogant  eye
[01:42.610]She  said,"You  won't  understand,and  you  may  as  well  not  try"
[01:49.308]But  her  face  was  a  child's,and  he  thought  she  would  cry
[01:54.230]But  she  closed  herself  up  like  a  fan.
[01:59.414]And  she  said,"I've  swallowed  a  secret  burning  thread
[02:04.414]It  cuts  me  inside,and  often  I've  bled"
[02:09.61]He  laid  his  hand  then  on  top  of  her  head
[02:13.862]And  he  bowed  her  down  to  the  ground.
[02:38.661]"Tell  me  how  hungry  are  you?How  weak  you  must  feel
[02:43.346]As  you  are  living  here  alone,and  you  are  never  revealed
[02:48.223]But  I  won't  march  again  on  your  battlefield"
[02:53.247]And  he  took  her  to  the  window  to  see.
[02:58.329]And  the  sun,it  was  gold,though  the  sky,it  was  gray
[03:02.879]And  she  wanted  more  than  she  ever  could  say
[03:07.797]But  she  knew  how  it  frightened  her,and  she  turned  away
[03:13.39]And  would  not  look  at  his  face  again.
[03:18.159]And  he  said,"I  want  to  live  as  an  honest  man
[03:23.37]To  get  all  I  deserve  and  to  give  all  I  can
[03:27.721]And  to  love  a  young  woman  who  I  don't  understand
[03:32.553]Your  highness,your  ways  are  very  strange."
[03:40.344]But  the  crown,it  had  fallen,and  she  thought  she  would  break
[03:44.892]And  she  stood  there,ashamed  of  the  way  her  heart  ached
[03:49.774]She  took  him  to  the  doorstep  and  she  asked  him  to  wait
[03:54.596]She  would  only  be  a  moment  inside.
[04:00.160]Out  in  the  distance  her  order  was  heard
[04:04.370]And  the  soldier  was  killed,still  waiting  for  her  word
[04:09.376]And  while  the  queen  went  on  strangeling  in  the  solitude  she  preferred
[04:14.845]The  battle  continued  on