Dawn a secret shy and cold
In shades of grey bereft of gold
Stole across the border
Caressed awake and morning-eyed
She daily through the frontier glides
And her papers are in order
She left me with an empty room
By bottle glass and smoke consumed
When duty came to call her

Now the children on the stairways speak in whispers
In the stalag-light you’re never quite at home
With the watchers and the waiters and the listeners
On the wire-tapped phone

Scarlet poppies blaze in Autumn fields
Where idle soldiers kick their heels
Now no one wants to know them
Murals fade along the wall
Where cold war tourists come no more
Now there’s nothing left to show them

Don’t get sympathy confused with understanding
When bitterness is bred into the bone
It’s indiscriminate obtrusive and demanding
And it’s better left alone

Now Nightfall leads her labour gangs
Uneasy east of no man’s land
Where dangerous men are working
Step we gaily onward so the voyeurs and the panders go
To peep behind the curtain
Where Karpov ceding endless games
Caught and forced to mate again
Lays down beneath his burden

They have gallows-hands to clap you on the shoulder
And tarot cards to show you where to go
If you’re worried that your welcome’s getting colder
As the fire burns low

But I’m tired of evasions of dangerous liaisons
In station after station after station
And I’m tired of waiting of indetermination
In station after station after station
Impatient for the last train
That will take me back to where someone is waiting

Chords:
Intro. A F#m E
Verse A D A F#m E A D E
Bridge D A D A F#m E
Chorus D A D A F#m E