The traitor

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