1917

The strange young man who comes to me A soldier on a three day spree Who needs one night's cheap ecstasy And a woman's arms to hide him He greets me with a courtly bow He hides his pain by acting proud And he drinks too much and he laughs too loud But, how can I deny him? Let us dance beneath the moon I'll sing to you "Claire de Lune" The morning always comes too soon But tonight the war is over He speaks to me in schoolboy French Of a soldier's life inside a trench The look of death, the ghastly stench I do my best to please him He puts two roses in a vase Two roses sadly out of place Like the gallant smile on his haggard face Playfully I tease him Hold me 'neath the Paris sky Let's not talk of how or why Tomorrow's soon enough to die But tonight the war is over We make love too hard, too fast He falls asleep, his face a mask He wakes with the shakes and drinks from his flask I put my arms around him They die in the trenches, they die in the air In Belgium an Franch the dead are everywhere They die so fast there's no time to prepare A decent grave to surround them Old World glory and Old World fame The Old World's gone, gone up in flames Nothing will ever be the same And nothing lasts forever I'd pray for him, but I've forgotten how And there's nothing, nothing that can save him now There's always another with the same funny bow And who am I to deny them La, la etc. Tonight the war is over