June Tabor - All This Useless Beauty lyrics

It's at times such as this
She'd be tempted to spit
If she wasn't so ladylike
She imagines how she might
Have lived back when
Legends & history collide
But she looks to her prince, finding since
He's so charmingly slumped at her side
Those days are recalled on the gallery wall
And she's waiting for passion
Or humor to strike

What shall we do, what shall we do
With all this useless beauty
All this useless beauty

Good Friday arrived, the sky darkened on time
Till he almost began to negotiate
And she held his head like a baby and said
"It's okay if you cry"
Now he wants her to dress
As if you couldn't guess
He desires to impress his associates
But he's part ugly beast
And Hellenic deceased
So she finds that the mixture is hard to deny

What shall we do, what shall we do
With all this useless beauty
All this useless beauty

She won't practice the looks from
The great tragic books
That were later defaced disgraced celluloid
They no longer make sense, but you can bet
If she isn't a sweetheart, a plaything or pet
The film turns her into an unveiled threat

Nonsense prevails, modesty fails
Grace and virtue turn into stupidity
While the calendar fades
Almost all barricades to a pale compromise
While our rulers have feasts on
The backsides of beasts
They still think they're the
Gods of antiquity
If something you missed didn't even exist
It was just an ideal
Is that such a surprise?

What shall we do, what shall we do
With all this useless beauty
All this useless beauty?

What shall we do, what shall we do
With all this useless beauty
All this useless beauty?