Under the ruins of a walled city
crumbling towers in beams of yellow light
no flags of truce, no cries of pity
the siege guns had been pounding all through the night
it took a day to build the city
we walked through its streets in the afternoon
as i returned across the fields i'd known
i recognized the walls that i once laid
i had to stop in my tracks for fear
of walking on the mines i'd laid
And if i have built this fortress around your heart
encircled you in trenches and barbed wire
then let me build a bridge for i cannot fill the chasm
and let me set the battlements on fire
Then i went off to fight some battle
that i'd invented inside my head
away so long for years and years
you probably thought or even wished that i was dead
while the armies all are sleeping
beneath the tattered flag we'd made
i had to stop in my tracks for fear
of walking on the mines i'd laid
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
i had to stop in my tracks for fear
of walking on the mines i'd laid
And if i have built this fortress around your heart
encircled you in trenches and barbed wire
then let me build a bridge for i cannot fill the chasm
and let me set the battlements on fire