Disc 1 | ||||||
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1. |
| 3:47 | ![]() |
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Suzanne takes you down to her place near the river
You can hear the boats go by You can spend the night beside her And you know that she's half crazy But that's why you want to be there And she feeds you tea and oranges That come all the way from China And just when you mean to tell her That you have no love to give her Then she gets you on her wavelength And she lets the river answer That you've always been her lover And you want to travel with her And you want to travel blind And you know that she will trust you For you've touched her perfect body with your mind. And Jesus was a sailor When he walked upon the water And he spent a long time watching From his lonely wooden tower And when he knew for certain Only drowning men could see him He said "All men will be sailors then Until the sea shall free them" But he himself was broken Long before the sky would open Forsaken, almost human He sank beneath your wisdom like a stone And you want to travel with him And you want to travel blind And you think maybe you'll trust him For he's touched your perfect body with his mind. Now Suzanne takes your hand And she leads you to the river She is wearing rags and feathers From Salvation Army counters And the sun pours down like honey On our lady of the harbour And she shows you where to look Among the garbage and the flowers There are heroes in the seaweed There are children in the morning They are leaning out for love And they will lean that way forever While Suzanne holds the mirror And you want to travel with her And you want to travel blind And you know that you can trust her For she's touched your perfect body with her mind. |
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2. |
| 5:53 | ![]() |
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Master Song
I believe that you heard your master sing when I was sick in bed. I suppose that he told you everything that I keep locked away in my head. Your master took you travelling, well at least that's what you said. And now do you come back to bring your prisoner wine and bread? You met him at some temple, where they take your clothes at the door. He was just a numberless man in a chair who'd just come back from the war. And you wrap up his tired face in your hair and he hands you the apple core. Then he touches your lips now so suddenly bare of all the kisses we put on some time before. And he gave you a German Shepherd to walk with a collar of leather and nails, and he never once made you explain or talk about all of the little details, such as who had a word and who had a rock, and who had you through the mails. Now your love is a secret all over the block, and it never stops not even when your master fails. And he took you up in his aeroplane, which he flew without any hands, and you cruised above the ribbons of rain that drove the crowd from the stands. Then he killed the lights in a lonely Lane and, an ape with angel glands, erased the final wisps of pain with the music of rubber bands. And now I hear your master sing, you kneel for him to come. His body is a golden string that your body is hanging from. His body is a golden string, my body has grown numb. Oh now you hear your master sing, your shirt is all undone. And will you kneel beside this bed that we polished so long ago, before your master chose instead to make my bed of snow? Your eyes are wild and your knuckles are red and you're speaking far too low. No I can't make out what your master said before he made you go. Then I think you're playing far too rough for a lady who's been to the moon; I've lain by this window long enough to get used to an empty room. And your love is some dust in an old man's cough who is tapping his foot to a tune, and your thighs are a ruin, you want too much, let's say you came back some time too soon. I loved your master perfectly I taught him all that he knew. He was starving in some deep mystery like a man who is sure what is true. And I sent you to him with my guarantee I could teach him something new, and I taught him how you would long for me no matter what he said no matter what you'd do. I believe that you heard your master sing while I was sick in bed, I'm sure that he told you everything I must keep locked away in my head. Your master took you travelling, well at least that's what you said, And now do you come back to bring your prisoner wine and bread? |
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3. |
| 2:16 | ![]() |
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Winter Lady
Trav'ling lady, stay awhile until the night is over. I'm just a station on your way, I know I'm not your lover. Well I lived with a child of snow when I was a soldier, and I fought every man for her until the nights grew colder. She used to wear her hair like you except when she was sleeping, and then she'd weave it on a loom of smoke and gold and breathing. And why are you so quiet now standing there in the doorway? You chose your journey long before you came upon this highway. Trav'ling lady stay awhile until the night is over. I'm just a station on your way, I know I'm not your lover. |
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4. |
| 5:04 | ![]() |
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It's true that all the men you knew were dealers
who said they were through with dealing Every time you gave them shelter I know that kind of man It's hard to hold the hand of anyone who is reaching for the sky just to surrender. And then sweeping up the jokers that he left behind you find he did not leave you very much not even laughter Like any dealer he was watching for the card that is so high and wild he'll never need to deal another He was just some Joseph looking for a manger He was just some Joseph looking for a manger. And then leaning on your window sill he'll say one day you caused his will to weaken with your love and warmth and shelter And then taking from his wallet an old schedule of trains, he'll say I told you when I came I was a stranger I told you when I came I was a stranger. But now another stranger seems to want you to ignore his dreams as though they were the burden of some other O you've seen that man before his golden arm dispatching cards but now it's rusted from the elbow to the finger And he wants to trade the game he plays for shelter Yes he wants to trade the game he knows for shelter. You hate to watch another tired man lay down his hand like he was giving up the holy game of poker And while he talks his dreams to sleep you notice there's a highway that is curling up like smoke above his shoulder It's curling up like smoke above his shoulder. You tell him to come in sit down but something makes you turn around The door is open you can't close you shelter You try the handle of the road It opens do not be afraid It's you my love, you who are the stranger It is you my love, you who are the stranger. Well, I've been waiting, I was sure we'd meet between the trains we're waiting for I think it's time to board another Please understand, I never had a secret chart to get me to the heart of this or any other matter Well he talks like this you don't know what he's after When he speaks like this, you don't know what he's after. Let's meet tomorrow if you chose upon the shore, beneath the bridge that they are building on some endless river Then he leaves the platform for the sleeping car that's warm You realize, he's only advertising one more shelter And it comes to you, he never was a stranger And you say ok the bridge or someplace later. And then sweeping up the jokers that he left behind you find he did not leave you very much not even laughter Like any dealer he was watching for the card that is so high and wild he'll never need to deal another He was just some Joseph looking for a manger He was just some Joseph looking for a manger. And leaning on your window sill he'll say one day you caused his will to weaken with your love and warmth and shelter And then taking from his wallet an old schedule of trains he'll say I told you when I came I was a stranger I told you when I came I was a stranger |
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5. |
| 3:33 | ![]() |
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Oh the sisters of mercy, they are not departed or gone.
They were waiting for me when I thought that I just can't go on. And they brought me their comfort and later they brought me this song. Oh I hope you run into them, you who've been travelling so long. Yes you who must leave everything that you cannot control. It begins with your family, but soon it comes around to your soul. Well I've been where you're hanging, I think I can see how you're pinned: When you're not feeling holy, your loneliness says that you've sinned. Well they lay down beside me, I made my confession to them. They touched both my eyes and I touched the dew on their hem. If your life is a leaf that the seasons tear off and condemn they will bind you with love that is graceful and green as a stem. When I left they were sleeping, I hope you run into them soon. Don't turn on the lights, you can read their address by the moon. And you won't make me jealous if I hear that they sweetened your night: We weren't lovers like that and besides it would still be all right, We weren't lovers like that and besides it would still be all right. |
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6. |
| 5:37 | ![]() |
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So Long Marianne
Come over to the window, my little darling, I'd like to try to read your palm. I used to think I was some kind of Gypsy boy before I let you take me home. Now so long, Marianne, it's time that we began to laugh and cry and cry and laugh about it all again. Well you know that I love to live with you, but you make me forget so very much. I forget to pray for the angels and then the angels forget to pray for us. Now so long, Marianne, it's time that we began ... We met when we were almost young deep in the green lilac park. You held on to me like I was a crucifix, as we went kneeling through the dark. Oh so long, Marianne, it's time that we began ... Your letters they all say that you're beside me now. Then why do I feel alone? I'm standing on a ledge and your fine spider web is fastening my ankle to a stone. Now so long, Marianne, it's time that we began ... For now I need your hidden love. I'm cold as a new razor blade. You left when I told you I was curious, I never said that I was brave. Oh so long, Marianne, it's time that we began ... Oh, you are really such a pretty one. I see you've gone and changed your name again. And just when I climbed this whole mountainside, to wash my eyelids in the rain! Oh so long, Marianne, it's time that we began ... |
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7. |
| 2:54 | ![]() |
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I loved you in the morning, our kisses deep and warm,
your hair upon the pillow like a sleepy golden storm, yes, many loved before us, I know that we are not new, in city and in forest they smiled like me and you, but now it's come to distances and both of us must try, your eyes are soft with sorrow, Hey, that's no way to say goodbye. I'm not looking for another as I wander in my time, walk me to the corner, our steps will always rhyme you know my love goes with you as your love stays with me, it's just the way it changes, like the shoreline and the sea, but let's not talk of love or chains and things we can't untie, your eyes are soft with sorrow, Hey, that's no way to say goodbye. I loved you in the morning, our kisses deep and warm, your hair upon the pillow like a sleepy golden storm, yes many loved before us, I know that we are not new, in city and in forest they smiled like me and you, but let's not talk of love or chains and things we can't untie, your eyes are soft with sorrow, Hey, that's no way to say goodbye. |
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8. |
| 4:34 | ![]() |
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Stories of the Street
The stories of the street are mine,the Spanish voices laugh. The Cadillacs go creeping now through the night and the poison gas, and I lean from my window sill in this old hotel I chose, yes one hand on my suicide, one hand on the rose. I know you've heard it's over now and war must surely come, the cities they are broke in half and the middle men are gone. But let me ask you one more time, O children of the dusk, All these hunters who are shrieking now oh do they speak for us? And where do all these highways go, now that we are free? Why are the armies marching still that were coming home to me? O lady with your legs so fine O stranger at your wheel, You are locked into your suffering and your pleasures are the seal. The age of lust is giving birth, and both the parents ask the nurse to tell them fairy tales on both sides of the glass. And now the infant with his cord is hauled in like a kite, and one eye filled with blueprints, one eye filled with night. O come with me my little one, we will find that farm and grow us grass and apples there and keep all the animals warm. And if by chance I wake at night and I ask you who I am, O take me to the slaughterhouse, I will wait there with the lamb. With one hand on the hexagram and one hand on the girl I balance on a wishing well that all men call the world. We are so small between the stars, so large against the sky, and lost among the subway crowds I try to catch your eye. |
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9. |
| 3:00 | ![]() |
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I met a woman long ago
Her hair the black that black can go, Are you a teacher of the heart? Soft she answered no. I met a girl across the sea, Her hair the gold that gold can be, Are you a teacher of the heart? Yes, but not for thee. I met a man who lost his mind In some lost place I had to find, Follow me the wise man said, But he walked behind. I walked into a hospital Where none was sick and none was well, When at night the nurses left I could not walk at all. Morning came and then came noon, Dinner time a scalpel blade Lay beside my silver spoon. Some girls wander by mistake Into the mess that scalpels make. Are you the teachers of my heart? We teach old hearts to break. One morning I woke up alone, The hospital and the nurses gone. Have I carved enough my Lord? Child, you are a bone. I ate and ate and ate, No I did not miss a plate, well How much do these suppers cost? We'll take it out in hate. I spent my hatred everyplace, On every work on every face, Someone gave me wishes And I wished for an embrace. Several girls embraced me, then I was embraced by men, Is my passion perfect? No, do it once again. I was handsome I was strong, I knew the words of every song. Did my singing please you? No, the words you sang were wrong. Who is it whom I address, Who takes down what I confess? Are you the teachers of my heart? We teach old hearts to rest. Oh teachers are my lessons done? I cannot do another one. They laughed and laughed and said: "Well child, Are your lessons done? Are your lessons done? Are your lessons done?" |
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10. |
| 4:26 | ![]() |
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One Of Us Cannot Be Wrong
I lit a thin green candle, to make you jealous of me. But the room just filled up with mosquitos, they heard that my body was free. Then I took the dust of a long sleepless night and I put it in your little shoe. And then I confess that I tortured the dress that you wore for the world to look through. I showed my heart to the doctor: he said I just have to quit. Then he wrote himself a prescription, and your name was mentioned in it! Then he locked himself in a library shelf with the details of our honeymoon, and I hear from the nurse that he's gotten much worse and his practice is all in a ruin. I heard of a saint who had loved you, so I studied all night in his school. He taught that the duty of lovers is to tarnish the golden rule. And just when I was sure that his teachings were pure he drowned himself in the pool. His body is gone but back here on the lawn his spirit continues to drool. An Eskimo showed me a movie he'd recently taken of you: the poor man could hardly stop shivering, his lips and his fingers were blue. I suppose that he froze when the wind took your clothes and I guess he just never got warm. But you stand there so nice, in your blizzard of ice, oh please let me come into the storm. |
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Disc 2 | ||||||
1. |
| 4:59 | ![]() |
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Avalanche
Well I stepped into an avalanche, it covered up my soul; when I am not this hunchback that you see, I sleep beneath the golden hill. You who wish to conquer pain, you must learn, learn to serve me well. You strike my side by accident as you go down for your gold. The cripple here that you clothe and feed is neither starved nor cold; he does not ask for your company, not at the centre, the centre of the world. When I am on a pedestal, you did not raise me there. Your laws do not compel me to kneel grotesque and bare. I myself am the pedestal for this ugly hump at which you stare. You who wish to conquer pain, you must learn what makes me kind; the crumbs of love that you offer me, they're the crumbs I've left behind. Your pain is no credential here, it's just the shadow, shadow of my wound. I have begun to long for you, I who have no greed; I have begun to ask for you, I who have no need. You say you've gone away from me, but I can feel you when you breathe. Do not dress in those rags for me, I know you are not poor; you don't love me quite so fiercely now when you know that you are not sure, it is your turn, beloved, it is your flesh that I wear. |
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2. |
| 5:56 | ![]() |
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The rain falls down on last year's man,
that's a jew's harp on the table, that's a crayon in his hand. And the corners of the blueprint are ruined since they rolled far past the stems of thumbtacks that still throw shadows on the wood. And the skylight is like skin for a drum I'll never mend and all the rain falls down amen on the works of last year's man. I met a lady, she was playing with her soldiers in the dark oh one by one she had to tell them that her name was Joan of Arc. I was in that army, yes I stayed a little while; I want to thank you, Joan of Arc, for treating me so well. And though I wear a uniform I was not born to fight; all these wounded boys you lie beside, goodnight, my friends, goodnight. I came upon a wedding that old families had contrived; Bethlehem the bridegroom, Babylon the bride. Great Babylon was naked, oh she stood there trembling for me, and Bethlehem inflamed us both like the shy one at some orgy. And when we fell together all our flesh was like a veil that I had to draw aside to see the serpent eat its tail. Some women wait for Jesus, and some women wait for Cain so I hang upon my altar and I hoist my axe again. And I take the one who finds me back to where it all began when Jesus was the honeymoon and Cain was just the man. And we read from pleasant Bibles that are bound in blood and skin that the wilderness is gathering all its children back again. The rain falls down on last year's man, an hour has gone by and he has not moved his hand. But everything will happen if he only gives the word; the lovers will rise up and the mountains touch the ground. But the skylight is like skin for a drum I'll never mend and all the rain falls down amen on the works of last year's man |
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3. |
| 6:03 | ![]() |
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Four o'clock in the afternoon
and I didn't feel like very much. I said to myself, "Where are you golden boy, where is your famous golden touch?" I thought you knew where all of the elephants lie down, I thought you were the crown prince of all the wheels in Ivory Town. Just take a look at your body now, there's nothing much to save and a bitter voice in the mirror cries, "Hey, Prince, you need a shave." Now if you can manage to get your trembling fingers to behave, why don't you try unwrapping a stainless steel razor blade? That's right, it's come to this, yes it's come to this, and wasn't it a long way down, wasn't it a strange way down? There's no hot water and the cold is running thin. Well, what do you expect from the kind of places you've been living in? Don't drink from that cup, it's all caked and cracked along the rim. That's not the electric light, my friend, that is your vision growing dim. Cover up your face with soap, there, now you're Santa Claus. And you've got a gift for anyone who will give you his applause. I thought you were a racing man, ah, but you couldn't take the pace. That's a funeral in the mirror and it's stopping at your face. That's right, it's come to this, yes it's come to this, and wasn't it a long way down, ah wasn't it a strange way down? Once there was a path and a girl with chestnut hair, and you passed the summers picking all of the berries that grew there; there were times she was a woman, oh, there were times she was just a child, and you held her in the shadows where the raspberries grow wild. And you climbed the twilight mountains and you sang about the view, and everywhere that you wandered love seemed to go along with you. That's a hard one to remember, yes it makes you clench your fist. And then the veins stand out like highways, all along your wrist. And yes it's come to this, it's come to this, and wasn't it a long way down, wasn't it a strange way down? You can still find a job, go out and talk to a friend. On the back of every magazine there are those coupons you can send. Why don't you join the Rosicrucians, they can give you back your hope, you can find your love with diagrams on a plain brown envelope. But you've used up all your coupons except the one that seems to be written on your wrist along with several thousand dreams. Now Santa Claus comes forward, that's a razor in his mit; and he puts on his dark glasses and he shows you where to hit; and then the cameras pan, the stand in stunt man, dress rehearsal rag, it's just the dress rehearsal rag, you know this dress rehearsal rag, it's just a dress rehearsal rag. |
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4. |
| 3:48 | ![]() |
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Diamonds in the Mine
The woman in blue, she's asking for revenge, the man in white -- that's you -- says he has no friends. The river is swollen up with rusty cans and the trees are burning in your promised land. And there are no letters in the mailbox, and there are no grapes upon the vine, and there are no chocolates in the boxes anymore, and there are no diamonds in the mine. Well, you tell me that your lover has a broken limb, you say you're kind of restless now and it's on account of him. Well, I saw the man in question, it was just the other night, he was eating up a lady where the lions and Christians fight. And there are no letters in the mailbox and there are no grapes upon the vine, and there are no chocolates in the boxes anymore, and there are no diamonds in the mine. (You tell them now) Ah, there is no comfort in the covens of the witch, some very clever doctor went and sterilized the bitch, and the only man of energy, yes the revolution's pride, he trained a hundred women just to kill an unborn child. And there are no letters in the mailbox, oh no, there are no, no grapes upon your vine, and there are, there are no chocolates in your boxes anymore, and there are no diamonds in your mine. And there are no letters in the mailbox, and there are no grapes upon the vine, and there are no chocolates in your boxes anymore, and there are no diamonds in your mine. |
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5. |
| 5:37 | ![]() |
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Love Calls You By Your Name
You thought that it could never happen to all the people that you became, your body lost in legend, the beast so very tame. But here, right here, between the birthmark and the stain, between the ocean and your open vein, between the snowman and the rain, once again, once again, love calls you by your name. The women in your scrapbook whom you still praise and blame, you say they chained you to your fingernails and you climb the halls of fame. Oh but here, right here, between the peanuts and the cage, between the darkness and the stage, between the hour and the age, once again, once again, love calls you by your name. Shouldering your loneliness like a gun that you will not learn to aim, you stumble into this movie house, then you climb, you climb into the frame. Yes, and here, right here between the moonlight and the lane, between the tunnel and the train, between the victim and his stain, once again, once again, love calls you by your name. I leave the lady meditating on the very love which I, I do not wish to claim, I journey down the hundred steps, but the street is still the very same. And here, right here, between the dancer and his cane, between the sailboat and the drain, between the newsreel and your tiny pain, once again, once again, love calls you by your name. Where are you, Judy, where are you, Anne? Where are the paths your heroes came? Wondering out loud as the bandage pulls away, was I, was I only limping, was I really lame? Oh here, come over here, between the windmill and the grain, between the sundial and the chain, between the traitor and her pain, once again, once again, love calls you by your name. |
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6. |
| 5:07 | ![]() |
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It's four in the morning, the end of December
I'm writing you now just to see if you're better New York is cold, but I like where I'm living There's music on Clinton Street all through the evening. I hear that you're building your little house deep in the desert You're living for nothing now, I hope you're keeping some kind of record. Yes, and Jane came by with a lock of your hair She said that you gave it to her That night that you planned to go clear Did you ever go clear? Ah, the last time we saw you you looked so much older Your famous blue raincoat was torn at the shoulder You'd been to the station to meet every train And you came home without Lili Marlene And you treated my woman to a flake of your life And when she came back she was nobody's wife. Well I see you there with the rose in your teeth One more thin gypsy thief Well I see Jane's awake -- She sends her regards. And what can I tell you my brother, my killer What can I possibly say? I guess that I miss you, I guess I forgive you I'm glad you stood in my way. If you ever come by here, for Jane or for me Your enemy is sleeping, and his woman is free. Yes, and thanks, for the trouble you took from her eyes I thought it was there for good so I never tried. And Jane came by with a lock of your hair She said that you gave it to her That night that you planned to go clear -- |
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7. |
| 6:09 | ![]() |
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Sing Another Song, Boys
(Let's sing another song, boys, this one has grown old and bitter.) Ah his fingernails, I see they're broken, his ships they're all on fire. The moneylender's lovely little daughter ah, she's eaten, she's eaten with desire. She spies him through the glasses from the pawnshops of her wicked father. She hails him with a microphone that some poor singer, just like me, had to leave her. She tempts him with a clarinet, she waves a Nazi dagger. She finds him lying in a heap; she wants to be his woman. He says, "Yes, I might go to sleep but kindly leave, leave the future, leave it open." He stands where it is steep, oh I guess he thinks that he's the very first one, his hand upon his leather belt now like it was the wheel of some big ocean liner. And she will learn to touch herself so well as all the sails burn down like paper. And he has lit the chain of his famous cigarillo. Ah, they'll never, they'll never ever reach the moon, at least not the one that we're after; it's floating broken on the open sea, look out there, my friends, and it carries no survivors. But lets leave these lovers wondering why they cannot have each other, and let's sing another song, boys, this one has grown old and bitter. |
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8. |
| 6:21 | ![]() |
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Joan of Arc
Now the flames they followed Joan of Arc as she came riding through the dark; no moon to keep her armour bright, no man to get her through this very smoky night. She said, "I'm tired of the war, I want the kind of work I had before, a wedding dress or something white to wear upon my swollen appetite." Well, I'm glad to hear you talk this way, you know I've watched you riding every day and something in me yearns to win such a cold and lonesome heroine. "And who are you?" she sternly spoke to the one beneath the smoke. "Why, I'm fire," he replied, "And I love your solitude, I love your pride." "Then fire, make your body cold, I'm going to give you mine to hold," saying this she climbed inside to be his one, to be his only bride. And deep into his fiery heart he took the dust of Joan of Arc, and high above the wedding guests he hung the ashes of her wedding dress. It was deep into his fiery heart he took the dust of Joan of Arc, and then she clearly understood if he was fire, oh then she must be wood. I saw her wince, I saw her cry, I saw the glory in her eye. Myself I long for love and light, but must it come so cruel, and oh so bright? |