Captain - Leonard Cohen

    Now the Captain called me to his bed
    He fumbled for my hand
    "Take these silver bars," he said
    "I'm giving you command."
    "Command of what, there's no one here
    There's only you and me --
    All the rest are dead or in retreat
    Or with the enemy."

    "Complain, complain, that's all you've done
    Ever since we lost
    If it's not the Crucifixion
    Then it's the Holocaust."
    "May Christ have mercy on your soul
    For making such a joke
    Amid these hearts that burn like coal
    And the flesh that rose like smoke."

    "I know that you have suffered, lad,
    But suffer this awhile:
    Whatever makes a soldier sad
    Will make a killer smile."
    "I'm leaving, Captain, I must go
    There's blood upon your hand
    But tell me, Captain, if you know
    Of a decent place to stand."

    "There is no decent place to stand
    In a massacre;
    But if a woman take your hand
    Go and stand with her."
    "I left a wife in Tennessee
    And a baby in Saigon --
    I risked my life, but not to hear
    Some country-western song."

    "Ah but if you cannot raise your love
    To a very high degree,
    Then you're just the man I've been thinking of --
    So come and stand with me."
    "Your standing days are done," I cried,
    "You'll rally me no more.
    I don't even know what side
    We fought on, or what for."

    "I'm on the side that's always lost
    Against the side of Heaven
    I'm on the side of Snake-eyes tossed
    Against the side of Seven.
    And I've read the Bill of Human Rights
    And some of it was true
    But there wasn't any burden left
    So I'm laying it on you."

    Now the Captain he was dying
    But the Captain wasn't hurt
    The silver bars were in my hand
    I pinned them to my shirt.
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    Marco Giunco
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