The French Lady's Request

Lyrics

[Intro]
A morning in fifty-six. November.
The meeting house smells of cold pine and damp wool.
The King's business is always cold.
On the wooden benches, the selectmen.
And before them, the French lady.

[Verse 1]
She came from the sea a year ago.
Brought from a place called Grand-Pré.
Still wears the salt in her coarse cloak.
Her English is broken, her prayers are not ours.
The General Court order is very clear:
she is not to leave this town.
She is not to gather with more than two of her own kind.
We are to provide for her, a line item in a ledger.

[Chorus]
Her request is simple.
Let me go to Worcester.
My husband was sent to Lancaster.
They say my son, Antoine, is in Worcester.
Captain Ward does not look up.
His face is a map of this hard country.

[Verse 2]
They call her a Neutral.
A strange name for a refugee.
They worry about popish plots, and the cost of firewood.
The clerk writes it down.
'A plea from the French woman.'
He is careful with his ink.
He records the date, the place, the men present.
He does not record the look in her eyes.

[Chorus]
Her request is simple.
Let me go to Worcester.
My husband was sent to Lancaster.
They say my son, Antoine, is in Worcester.
Captain Ward does not look up.
His face is a map of this hard country.

[Bridge]
Her name is lost. We might call her Marie.
Her son's name is lost. We can call him Antoine.
The record only shows the expense of her keep.
And a petition, denied.
For fear she might escape.
For fear she might conspire.
For fear of a woman, alone, looking for her child.
We noted the price of her bread. We did not note her name.

[Outro]
The meeting moves on.
Road repairs. A dispute over a fence line.
She is led back to the small room they gave her.
The request hangs in the cold air.
Unanswered.
Then, as now.