(Bob Dylan cover)
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Sixteen years,
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Sixteen banners united over the field
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Where the good shepherd grieves.
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Desperate men, desperate women divided,
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Spreading their wings 'neath the falling leaves.
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Fortune calls.
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I stepped forth from the shadows, to the marketplace,
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Merchants and thieves, hungry for power, my last deal gone down.
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She's smelling sweet like the meadows where she was born,
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On midsummer's eve, near the tower.
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The cold-blooded moon.
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The captain waits above the celebration
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Sending his thoughts to a beloved maid
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Whose ebony face is beyond communication.
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The captain is down but still believing that his love will be repaid.
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They shaved her head.
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She was torn between Jupiter and Apollo.
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A messenger arrived with a black nightingale.
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I seen her on the stairs and I couldn't help but follow,
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Follow her down past the fountain where they lifted her veil.
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I stumbled to my feet.
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I rode past destruction in the ditches
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With the stitches still mending 'neath a heart-shaped tattoo.
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Renegade priests and treacherous young witches
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Were handing out the flowers that I'd given to you.
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The palace of mirrors
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Where dog soldiers are reflected,
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The endless road and the wailing of chimes,
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The empty rooms where her memory is protected,
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Where the angels' voices whisper to the souls of previous times.
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She wakes him up
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Forty-eight hours later, the sun is breaking
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Near broken chains, mountain laurel and rolling rocks.
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She's begging to know what measures he now will be taking.
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He's pulling her down and she's clutching on to his long golden locks.
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Gentlemen, he said,
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I don't need your organization, I've shined your shoes,
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I've moved your mountains and marked your cards
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But Eden is burning, either brace yourself for elimination
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Or else your hearts must have the courage for the changing of the guards.
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Peace will come
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With tranquility and splendor on the wheels of fire
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But will bring us no reward when her false idols fall
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And cruel death surrenders with its pale ghost retreating
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Between the King and the Queen of Swords.
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Changing Of The Guards
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| Patti Smith |
