In death you face life with a child and a wife who sleepwalks through your dreams into walls,
You're a soldier of mercy and you're cold and you curse, "He who cannot be trusted must fall."
Loneliness, tenderness,
High society, notoriety.
1
You fight for the throne and you travel alone, unknown as you slowly sink
And there's no time to think.
In the Federal City
2 you been blown and shown pity in secret for pieces of change,
The empress attracts you, but oppression distracts you, it makes you feel violent and strange.
Memory, ecstasy,
Tyranny, hypocrisy.
Betrayed by a kiss on a cool night of bliss in the valley of a missing link
And there's no time to think.
Judges will haunt you, the country priestess will want you, her worst is better than best,
I've seen all these decoys through a set of deep turquoise eyes and I feel so depressed.
China doll, alcohol,
Duality, mortality.
Mercury rules you and destiny fools you like the plague with a dangerous wink
And there's no time to think.
Your conscience betrayed you when some tyrant waylaid you where the lion lies down with the lamb,
I'd'a paid the traitor and killed him much later, but that's just the way that I am.
Paradise, sacrifice,
Mortality, reality.
But the magician is quicker and his game is much thicker than blood and blacker than ink
And there's no time to think.
Vomit and jealousy's all that he sells us, he's contented when you're under his thumb,
Madmen oppose him, your kindness throws him, to survive it you play deaf and dumb.
Equality, liberty,
Humility, simplicity.
You glance through the mirror and there's eyes staring clear at the back of your head as you drink
And there's no time to think.
Warlords of sorrow and queens of tomorrow will offer their heads for a prayer,
You can't find no salvation, have no expectations any time, any place, anywhere.
Nobility, humility.
You know you can't keep her and the water gets deeper that is leading you onto the brink
And there's no time to think.
You've murdered your vanity, burned your sanity for pleasure you must now resist,
Lovers obey you, but they cannot sway you, they're not even sure you exist.
Socialism, hypnotism,
Patriotism, materialism.
Fools making laws for the breaking of jaws and the sound of the keys as they clink
And there's no time to think.
The bridge that you travel on goes to the Babylon girl with the rose in her hair,
Starlight in the east, you're finally released, you're stranded with nothing to share.
Loyalty, unity,
Epitome, rigidity.
You turn around for one real last glimpse of Camille 'neath the moonshine, bloody and pink,
4
And there's no time to think.
Bullets can harm you and death can disarm you, but, no, you will not be deceived,
Stripped of all virtue as you crawl through the dirt, you can give but you cannot receive.
No time to choose when the truth must die,
No time to lose or say goodbye,
No time to prepare for the victim that's there, no time to suffer or blink,
And no time to think.
1
In each verse except for the last there is a section in the middle that consists of four nouns in a row. Because it's unclear to me how these sections fit into the verse -- and therefore what kind of punctuation-structure they fit into -- and whether they are connected to what comes before and/or afterwards, I've chosen to just keep these sections separate, as though they constitute complete sentences.
2
Perhaps referring to Washington, D.C., which historically has been called the "Federal City".
3
Dylan really butchers this word to the point where I'm not even sure that it really is "gravity".
4
According to the official lyrics version, this line is as follows: "You turn around for one real last glimpse of Camille / 'Neath the moon shinin' bloody and pink...". It is very possible that Dylan does sing something that is closer to this transcription.