The Queen and the Soldier

The Queen And The Soldier
The soldier came knocking upon the queen's door 
He said, "I am not fighting for you any more" 
The queen knew she'd seen his face someplace before
And slowly she let him inside

He said, "I've watched 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." 

Down in the long narrow hall he was led 
Into her rooms with her tapestries red 
And she never once took the crown from her head 
She asked him there to sit down

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?" 

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've swallowed a secret burning thread 
It cuts me inside, and often I've bled" 
He laid his hand then on top of her head 
And 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 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 gray 
And she wanted more than she ever could say 
But she knew 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." 

But the crown, it had fallen, and she thought she would break 
And she stood there, ashamed of the way her heart ached 
She took him to the doorstep and she asked him to wait 
She would only be a moment inside

Out in the distance her order was heard 
And the soldier was killed, still waiting for her word 
And while the queen went on strangeling in the solitude she preferred
The battle continued on