lady joan
by Lynn

oh lady joan, of arc,
did you whimper when they burned you
or did you writhe in ecstasy?

did all those voices in your head,
leave you for dead,
or did they show you what a saint
you'd be?

now joan was a good girl
she cleaned up her room each day
but there was something about her,
when every night she started to pray

and was it holiness
or just his horniness
and was she really chosen by god
to be his bride?

at 13 and a half, joan went down
she went down on her knees
at first the sounds were gentle
just a whisper in her ear that day

and were the voices
really just the holy saints
and was the war they were fighting
really for the freedom of all france?

michael told her to cut her hair
and dress herself up like a boy
margaret told her to raise up an army
and sent her on her way.

but catherine did you tell her
when you sent her down to Fierbois
that the sword that you would give her
would cut her down so deep?

so joan took orleans
and she gave the dauphin his crown
at reims. but the arrow split her open.
she left her armour on the altar

who called you in the night, joan,
was it the trails of blood you missed
or was it just the weight of their silence
that you hefted when you killed again?

when they pulled her down
she could smell them with the horses
and she begged to see the women
but they gave her to the prison of men

and hey mr dauphin,
did you know you could have saved her
was she just another hostage
or did you really want her dead?

her trial they called her a liar
they said her power was sin
but they were the ones that lied to her
by the pyre at the end

joan when you pulled on those clothes
the clothes they burned you for,
was it michael that made you
or did you want to dance in the flames?

heretic, soldier, saint, sinner,
multiple, schitzo, paranoid, weird
transgendered, fraud, insane, holy,
hated, loved, suicidal, fighting

but what I want to know,
what I really want to know, oh joan,
oh lady joan, of arc,
did you whimper when they burned you
or did you writhe in ecstasy?

did all those voices in your head,
did they just leave you for dead,
or did they show you what a saint
you'd be?