The Circle Game

      C                  F                          C             G
    Yesterday a child came out to wonder,
      C                      F                G     Bb
    caught a dragonfly inside a jar,
      C                       F                     Em
    fearful when the sky was full of thunder,
             F                  C      G       C
    and tearful at the falling of a star.

        C                             F                                C            G
    Then the child moved ten times round the seasons,
        C              F                           G         Bb
    skated over ten clear frozen streams.
        C                                    F                     Em
    Words like, “when you’re older", must appease him,
              F                C              G              C
    and promises of someday make his dreams.

                C                         F               C
And the seasons, they go round and round,
               C                          F           C
and the painted ponies go up and down,
F                                                      C
    we’re captive on the carousel of time.
F                                                           Em                            F
    We can’t return, we can only look behind from where we came,
              C                                                      G       C          F C F
and go round and round and round In the circle game.

      C                             F                           C               G
    Sixteen springs and sixteen summers gone now,
      C                         F                                   G          Bb
    cartwheels lost to car wheels through the town.
                   C                             F                       Em
    And you tell him, “Take your time, it won’t be long now,
                  F                         C          G         C
    till you drag your feet to slow the circles down."

                 C                       F                            C        G
    So the boy could be tomorrow, now he’s twenty,
                         C                                   F                        G        Bb
    though his dreams have lost some grandeur coming true.
                        C                              F                             Em
    There’ll be new dreams, maybe better dreams, and plenty,
         F                      C          G           C
    before the last revolving year is through.

                C                         F               C
And the seasons, they go round and round,
               C                          F           C
and the painted ponies go up and down,
F                                                      C
    we’re captive on the carousel of time.
F                                                           Em                            F
    We can’t return, we can only look behind from where we came,
              C                                 F
and go round and round and round …
              C                                 F
and go round and round and round …
              C                                 F
and go round and round and round …