Sting - Shape Of My Heart

He deals the cards as a meditation
And those he plays never suspect
He doesn't play for the money he wins
He doesn't play for respect
He deals the crads to find the answer
The sacred geometry of chance
The hidden loaw of a probable outcome
The numbers lead a dance

I know that the spades are swords of a soldier
I know that the clubs are weapons of war
I know that diamonds mean money for this art
But that's not the shape of my heart

He may play the jack of diamonds
He may lay the queen of spades
He may conceal a king in his hand
While the memory of it fades

I know that the spades are swords of a soldier
I know that the clubs are weapons of war
I know that diamonds mean money for this art
But that's not the shape of my heart

And if I told you that I loved you
You'd maybe think there's something wrong
I'm not a man of too many faces
The mask I wear is one
Those who speak know nothing
And find out to their cost
Like those who curse their luck in too many places
And those who fear are lost

I know that the spades are swords of a soldier
I know that the clubs are weapons of war
I know that diamonds mean money for this art
But that's not the shape of my heart

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I wanted to write about a card player. A gambler. Who gambles not, not to win, but to try and figure out something. To try and figure out some sort of mystical logic in luck. Or chance. A sort, some sort of scientific law or almost religious law. So this guy’s a philosopher, you know, and he’s not playing for respect and he’s not playing for money. He just wants to try and figure out the, the law, I think. There has to be some logic to it. And, um, he’s a poker player so he doesn’t, it’s not easy for him to express his emotions. In fact, he doesn’t express any. He has a mask. And it’s just one mask and it never changes. That’s good for a poker player, but it’s terrible for a, for a lover. If you’re having a relationship with a guy like this, the poor woman is lost. So, I tried to create a little story that the guy was searching with his gambling. At the same time losing, losing his relationship. And also the cards are — I looked back at the derivation of our playing cards, which are actually tarot cards. And they’re very old. Thousands of years old. Where they are, the suits of the cards. The, the diamonds mean money. The, the clubs are weapons. The spades are swords. And the, um, the hearts are, you know, it’s love. But, uh, then I, I got, I got more and more involved in this thing, y’know, and the shape of the heart is not the shape of the human heart. And so, there’s a kind of conflict there between reality and fantasy.

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