Now the swan
It floated on
The English river
Ah, the rose of high romance
It opened wide
A sun tanned woman yearned me
Through the summer
And the judges watched us
From the other side
I told my mother
"Mother, I must leave you
Preserve my room
But do not shed a tear
Should rumour
Of a shabby ending reach you
It was half my fault
And half the atmosphere"
But the rose I sickened
With a scarlet fever
And the swan I tempted
With a sense of shame
She said at last
I was her finest lover
And if she withered
I would be to blame
The judges said
You missed it by a fraction
Rise up and brace your troops
For the attack
Ah the dreamers ride against
The men of action
Oh see the men of action
Falling back
But I lingered on her thighs
A fatal moment
I kissed her lips
As though I thirsted still
My falsity had stung me
Like a hornet
The poison sank
And it paralysed my will
I could not move
To warn all the younger soldiers
That they had been deserted from above
So on battlefields
From here to Barcelona
I'm listed
With the enemies of love
And long ago she said
"I must be leaving
Ah but keep my body here
To lie upon
You can move it up and down
And when I'm sleeping
Run some wire
Through that rose and wind the swan"
So daily I renew my idle duty
I touch her here and there
I know my place
I kiss her open mouth
And I praise her beauty
And people call me traitor
To my face