Original by Leonard Cohen as rearranged by Judy Collins.
The Argument: Gloria Jr. has been brought before Tempest, who is fascinated by her and asks her to describe her life. She has been ordered by Cookie to assassinate him with a dagger concealed about her person. She sings of her near murder by and the death of her robot father.
(Stage Directions)
Gloria Jr: The door it opened slowly,
my father he came in,was nine years old.
And he stood so tall above me,
his red eyes they were shining
and his voice was very cold.
He said, “I’ve had my orders
and you know I’ve been programmed,
I must do what I’ve been told.”
So we started up the mountain,
I was running, he was walking,
and his axe was made of gold.
You who build these altars now
to sacrifice these children,
you must not do it anymore.
A scheme is not a program
and you never have been ordered
by the devil or the Lord.
You who stand above them now,
your hatchets blunt and bloody,
you were not there before,
when I lay upon a mountain
and my father’s hand was trembling
with the beauty of the code.
(Tempest realizes Gloria Jr is his daughter and embraces her.)
And if you call me daughter now,
forgive me if I ask,
“Just according to whose plan?”
When it all comes down to dust
I will kill you if I must,
I will love you if I can. (Drops dagger.)
And may I never learn to scorn
The body out of chaos born,
The woman and the man.
And mercy on our uniform,
man of peace or man of war,
the peacock spreads his fan.
