One Stage Before

It seems to me as though I've been
Upon this stage before
And juggled away the night for the same old crowd
These harlequins you see with me
They too have held the floor
As here once again they strut and they fret their hour
I see those half-familiar faces
In the second row
Ghost-like with the footlights in their eyes
But where or when we met like this
Last time I just don't know
It's like a chord that rings and never dies
For infinity

And now these figures in the wings
With all their restless tunes
Are waiting around for someone to call their names
They walk the backstage corridors
And prowl the dressing-rooms
And vanish to specks of light in the picture-frames
But did they move upon the stage
A thousand years ago
In some play in Paris or Madrid?
And was I there among them then
In some travelling show?
And is it all still locked inside my head
For infinity?

And some of you are harmonies
To all the notes I play
Although we may not meet still you know me well
While others talk in secret keys
And transpose all I say
And nothing I do or try can get through the spell
So one more time we'll dim the lights
And ring the curtain up
And play again like all the times before
But far behind the music
You can almost hear the sounds
Of laughter like the waves upon the shores
Of infinity