The Queen and the Soldier

The soldier came knocking upon the Queen's door

He said, "I am not fighting for you any more"
The queen knew she'd seen his face someplace before
And slowly she let him inside.

(Suzanne Vega, The Queen and the Soldier)

Suzanne Vega’s haunting ballad has many possible interpretations. One way to think of it is from the perspective of the soldier with the Queen representing an ideology or belief once held high but then questioned and walked away from. In doing so the soldier, or at least that part of him willing to fight for the cause, dies.

Twenty five years ago a group of university students marched onto Tiananmen Square calling for government accountability, freedom of the press, freedom of speech, and the restoration of workers' control over industry. That group became large, influential and unmanageable. On the night of the 3rd of June, 1989 the Chinese government, after failed negotiations, broke up the protest with an open display of lethal force. The death toll from the massacre lies somewhere between a few hundred to several thousand. The Chinese government does not talk about this. 

It is arguable that the events leading to what is now known as the June 4 Massacre provided the momentum for subsequent reforms that allowed China to rise as an economic powerhouse - whilst China’s elite retains an ironclad control. Her people are more wealthy and able to palp more stuff. They have greater aspirations but remain mostly silent. It’s not exactly what the protesters wanted. And a burgeoning middle class will demand more.

Whether you think it is a good thing or not, it takes time to transition to a western-style democracy. It took a heady mix of underlying disquiet and galvanising events to realise the disaster in Tiananmen Square. In this case the force of ideas and a demand for change stood little chance when facing off the open end of a cannon. The events now taking place in Syria and Egypt indicate that the unseating of despotic regimes requires an equally formidable force. And they bring with them many of the authoritarian traits of those they are trying to remove.

The energy and quixotry of youth may well man barricades and try to bring about a revolution. Age and experience often treads a more pragmatic path. In-between, and, in particular for those that watch from afar, there is that risk of becoming disillusioned: to abandon ideology for the pursuit more immediate fulfilment. To seek material gain as an end in itself and to use a comparison with others as the principle measure of worth. 

The dictates of doctrine often need to be bent to fit the practicalities of a real world. Otherwise we may give up altogether and with that a little bit of what makes us human dies. Take enough away and what’s left is a certain emptiness of a life without meaning.

It matters. Because the human capacity for abstract thought means that some of them will actually use it. 

Suzanne Vega plays at the Powerhouse in Brisbane tonight.

Twenty five years ago on the 15 April, 1989 some Chinese students started gathering on the grounds of Tiananmen Square. 

The soldier came knocking upon the queen's door

He said, "I am not fighting for you any more"

The queen knew she'd seen his face someplace before

And slowly she let him inside.

He said, "I've watched your palace up here on the hill

And I've wondered who's the woman for whom we all kill

But I am leaving tomorrow and you can do what you will

Only first I am asking you why?"

Down in the long narrow hall he was led

Into her room with her tapestries red

And she never once took the crown from her head

She asked him there to sit down.

He said, "I see you now, and you are so very young

But I've seen more battles lost than I have battles won

And I've got this intuition, says it's all for your fun

And now will you tell me why?"

The young queen, she fixed him with an arrogant eye

She said, "You won't understand, and you may as well not try"

But her face was a child's, and he thought she would cry

But she closed herself up like a fan.

And she said, "I've swallowed a secret burning thread

It cuts me inside, and often I've bled"

He laid his hand then on top of her head

And he bowed her down to the ground.

"Tell me how hungry are you? How weak you must feel

As you are living here alone, and you are never revealed

But I won't march again on your battlefield"

And he took her to the window to see.

And the sun, it was gold, though the sky, it was gray

And she wanted more than she ever could say

But she knew how it frightened her, and she turned away

And would not look at his face again.

And he said, "I want to live as an honest man

To get all I deserve and to give all I can

And to love a young woman who I don't understand

Your highness, your ways are very strange."

But the crown, it had fallen, and she thought she would break

And she stood there, ashamed of the way her heart ached

She took him to the doorstep and she asked him to wait

She would only be a moment inside.

Out in the distance her order was heard

And the soldier was killed, still waiting for her word

And while the queen went on strangling in the solitude she preferred

The battle continued on.