Tulip (Undressed)

Ada, my rarest bulb from the desert valley
Your hair of fire and skin of snow
Have caused me to the heights of the desert mountains
In search of a cure for a rampant fever
Your beauty's power, it plagues me now
I comb and scour the land for the desert flower

For beauty and perfume, I'd stake my house and my lands
The gold is sleeping in the river, but the flower's in my hand
With a paler leaf and a broken petal, I'll bait the king and queen
And to the goldsmith with my flower, I'll buy your wedding ring

Tulip, tulip, with one word I did buy
Oxen, sheep and wheat and rye, and land on the north seaside
Tulip, tulip, with one word I did buy
The finest dresses man could buy, and a pearl for to bait my bride

Then with my rarest bulb to her father's garden
Like gold for lamb or wool for clam, I gave that man a bulb for his daughter
Ada, your heart is mine and it's mine forever
And she replied, "My fate that lies on yon horizon's tethered me to the sky"

The match arranged, and vows exchanged, and the dove flew away
The bells spilled out the hollow canyon on our wedding day
To me, she gave her hand, and 'til death do us part
But the bird will nest with one that she has promised her heart

Tulip, tulip, with one word I did buy
The bed from which our sons will rise, and the window where she cries
Tulip, tulip, with one word I did buy
A net to catch the birds that fly from the window where she cries

He reaches out and I withdraw
Spilling the flowering bribes from his paw
The broken petals climbing the walls
Stealing my oxygen, no air at all
From the bed, I hear him call
But I answer, cooing, when the night falls
The cotton sword is storming the hall
Cutting my vision to no sight at all

I tied the tulip around her neck like a red lead sinker
And blindfold and spin around and round and round
To the banks of the river
My true love into the rushing waters
And by her long hair, bleeding red hair
Pulled my love there under until she drown

For beauty and perfume, I'd stake my house and my lands
My love is sleeping in the river, but the flower's in my hand
With a paler leaf and a broken petal, I'll keep her all to me
And to the river with my flower, I'll hear my true love sing

No water is still here, my friend, ready to drown
Water, water, oh, water, my kin, carry me out
This iron river is mercy at last, die as she laughs
For he is waiting where the doves nest, my true love

Tulip, tulip, with one word I did buy
The veil that parted over my bride and the blue from her bluest eye
Tulip, tulip, with one word I did buy
The veil that parted over my bride and the breath as my true love died
Tulip, tulip, with one word I did buy
The veil that parted over my bride and the blue from her bluest eye
Tulip, tulip, with one word I did buy
The veil that parted over my bride and the breath as my true love
Died