Autumn
Peter Hammill
So here we are
Alone
Our children have grown up and moved away
Living their own lives
They say
It all seems very strange to me
I don't understand their ways
Our children amaze me all the time
And I often wonder why they make me feel sad
And old
Now we're left with an empty home
From our nest all the birds have flown for foreign skies
We're discarded, of no further use
Though we gave our kids all our youth and all our lives
We really tried
Now there's only my wife and me
We used to have a family
Now that's gone
And only memories linger on
It all seems so very wrong to me
To our sorrows they were quite deaf
And as soon as they could they left us to our tears
We always tried to teach what was good
Yes, we gave our kids all we could through all the years
So here we are
At last
The time has gone so fast
And so have my dreams
I simply don't know what it all means
This pointless passage through the night
This autumn-time
This walk upon the water
I wonder how long
It will be till this song
Is sung by our own sons and daughters?