“The Queen And The Soldier” by Suzanne Vega

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

咋聼之下，似乎是一首有關戰爭的歌。是的，是戰爭。隱喻著男人和女人之間的戰爭。這讓我想起《男人與女人之戰爭與和平》。沒辦法看到這套舞臺劇，多少有些落寞。

And she never once took the crown from her head.這不是說著現代的女性嗎？無論美丑，都患上一種叫‘公主病’的症狀。 誰願意把頭上的皇冠拿下來？拿下來就輸了。被傷害了。或許心底的某部分粉粹了。But the crown, it had fallen, and she thought she would break/And she stood there, ashamed of the way her heart ached.

And the soldier was killed, still waiting for her word.他被殺了嗎？或許在她心底徹底地被抹殺。在《孔雀森林》裡，女主角不是以‘先男友’來稱呼她的前男友嗎？他死了嗎？沒。但在她心裡頭，他，已逝。

The battle continued on.男人與女人的戰爭，沒有結局。周而復始。

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