Under the ruins of a walled city Crumbling tars and beams of yellow light
No flags of truth, no cries of pity Siege guns have been pounding through the nights
It took a day to build a city We walked through its streets in the afternoon
As I returned across the fields I'd known I recognized the walls that I'd once made
Had to stop in my tracks for fear Of walking on the mines I laid
And if I built this fortress around your heart And circled you in trenches and barbed wire
Then let me build a bridge, for I cannot build a chasm Let me set the battlements on fire
Then I went off to fight some battle That I'd invented inside my head
Who waited so long for years and years Who probably thought or even wished that I was dead
While the armies all are sleeping Beneath the tattered flag we'd made
Had to stop in my tracks for fear Of walking on the mines I laid
And if I built this fortress around your heart And circled you in trenches and barbed wire
Then let me build a bridge, for I cannot build a chasm Let me set the battlements on fire
This prison has now become your home A sentence you seem prepared to pay
It took a day to build the city We walked through its streets in the afternoon
As I returned across the lands I'd known I recognized the fields where I'd once played
Had to stop in my tracks for fear Of walking on the mines I laid
And if I built this fortress around your heart And circled you in trenches and barbed wire
Then let me build a bridge, for I cannot build a chasm Let me set the battlements on fire
Let me build a bridge, for I cannot build a chasm Let me set the battlements on fire
Let me build a bridge, for I cannot build a chasm Let me set the battlements on fire