Silver Mantis
Kris Kristofferson · Natural Act [1978]
(Joe Henry Burnett - John Fleming)
Seito lived in the canyon of the dragons
Sashiko lived in the valley of the moon
They met along the highway to Aomeri
Where danger in the forest loomed.
Shashiko dressed in silks and dreamed of heroes
She was carried in a hammock draped and veiled
Her father was a cruel and brutal warlord
Who fearful kept her in a shell.
Seito he was but a lowly servant
But his master knew him to be true and brave
When he happened on the scene of her education
He sent her captors to their graves.
Seito guarded Sashiko to her palace
He had no thought of ransom to conceal
She took him in and washed his cuts and bruises
And laid him softly down to sleep.
When morning came she rose to tell her father
Of the stranger who had ruined the kidnap plot
But jealous and enraged her father seized him
And chained him in the dungeon dark.
Sashiko's tears flowed like the river Edo
As she pleaded Seito's freedom face to floor
But the warlord turned his back and would not hear her
His mercy withered years before.
When night fell she crept down into the dungeon
Two daggers hidden underneath her coat
And there they slept in death by harakiri
Her father's chains around them both...
Seito lived in the canyon of the dragons
Sashiko lived in the valley of the moon
They met along the highway to Aomeri
Where danger in the forest loomed.
Shashiko dressed in silks and dreamed of heroes
She was carried in a hammock draped and veiled
Her father was a cruel and brutal warlord
Who fearful kept her in a shell.
Seito he was but a lowly servant
But his master knew him to be true and brave
When he happened on the scene of her education
He sent her captors to their graves.
Seito guarded Sashiko to her palace
He had no thought of ransom to conceal
She took him in and washed his cuts and bruises
And laid him softly down to sleep.
When morning came she rose to tell her father
Of the stranger who had ruined the kidnap plot
But jealous and enraged her father seized him
And chained him in the dungeon dark.
Sashiko's tears flowed like the river Edo
As she pleaded Seito's freedom face to floor
But the warlord turned his back and would not hear her
His mercy withered years before.
When night fell she crept down into the dungeon
Two daggers hidden underneath her coat
And there they slept in death by harakiri
Her father's chains around them both...