The Traitor Martha Wainwright

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 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