Joni Mitchell Cara's Castle Lyrics

If you ever come to our town
On a carousel crusade
And you're tired of fighting windmills with a nail
Cross the fence and join the dragons
Who have never made the grade
Cara’s castle and the keepers of a most unholy grail.

Oh Cara, Queen of the losers, ruler of the weak
Give the poet what he chooses till he's too dumb to speak

There's a clock upon the mantle
But its hands forget the time
And the windows turn their backs upon the day
And the people in the shadows
Could be all lost friends of mine
Cara’s courtiers need no light – need no light to lose their way

Oh Cara, Queen of the losers, ruler of the weak
Give the poet what he chooses till he's too dumb to speak

From the end to the beginning Crippled minds retrace the steps
From the burial to the birth they do retreat
Wonderin’ where and when and why
Their souls were slaughtered while they slept
Cara’s courtiers know no victory – know no victory just defeat

Oh Cara, Queen of the losers, ruler of the weak
Give the poet what he chooses till he's too dumb to speak

One by one the battered soldiers
Go slowly cross the moat
One by one they seek new castles somewhere else
With their crutches and the cravens
And I wonder is there hope
Is there hope for Cara’s courtiers – and the wars against themselves

Oh Cara, Queen of the losers, ruler of the weak
Give the poet what he chooses till he's too dumb to speak