The Traitor

Now the swan it floated on the English river
 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 rumor 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 paralyzed 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
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 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
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 And people call me traitor to my face