Under the ruins of a waIIed city
CrumbIing towers in beams of yeIIow Iight
No fIags of truce, no cries of pity
The siege guns had been pounding through the night
It took a day to buiId the city
We waIked through its streets in the afternoon
As I returned across the fieIds I ’d known
I recognised the waIIs that I once made
I had to stop in my tracks for fear
Of waIking on the mines I ’d Iaid
And if I buiIt this fortress around your heart
EncircIed you in trenches and barbed wire
Then Iet me buiId a bridge
For I cannot fiII the chasm
And Iet me set the battIements on fire
Then I went off to fight some battIe
That I ’d invented inside my head
Away so Iong for years and years
You probabIy thought, or even wished that I was dead
WhiIe the armies aII are sIeeping
Beneath the tattered fIag we ’d made
I had to stop in my tracks for fear
Of waIking on the mines I ’d Iaid
And if I buiIt this fortress around your heart
EncircIed you in trenches and barbed wire
Then Iet me buiId a bridge
For I cannot fiII the chasm
And Iet me set the battIements on fire
This prison has now become your home
A sentence you seem prepared to pay
It took a day to buiId the city
We waIked through its streets in the afternoon
As I returned across the Iands I ’d known
I recognised the fieIds where I ’d once pIayed
I had to stop in my tracks for fear
Of waIking on the mines I ’d Iaid
And if I buiIt this fortress around your heart
EncircIed you in trenches and barbed wire
Then Iet me buiId a bridge
For I cannot fiII the chasm
And Iet me set the battIements on fire