Story of a Life lyrics

I can see myself, it's a golden sunrise.

Young boy, open up your eyes,

It's supposed to be your day.

Now off you go horizon bound

And you won't stop until you've found

Your own kind of way.

And the wind will whip your tousled hair,

The sun, the rain, the sweet despair,

Great tales of love and strife.

And somewhere on your path to glory

You will write your story of a life

And all the towns that you walk through

And all the people that you talk to

Sing you their songs.

And there are times you change your stride,

There are times you can't decide,

Still you go on.

And then the young girls dance their gypsy tunes,

And share the secrets of the moon,

So soon you find a wife.

And though she sees your dreams go poorly,

Still she joins your story of a life.

So you settle down and the children come,

And you find a place that you come from,

Your wandering is done.

And all your dreams of open spaces

You find in your children's faces,

One by one.

And all the trips you know you missed,

And all the lips you never kissed,

Cut through you like a knife.

And now you see stretched out before thee

Just another story of a life.

So what do you do now?

When she looks at you now?

You know those same old jokes all the jesters tell

You tell them to her now,

And all the same old songs all the minstrels sang

You sing 'em to her now,

But it don't matter anyhow,

'Cause she knows by now.

So every chance you take don't mean a thing.

What variations can you bring

To this shopworn melody.

And every year goes by like a tollin' bell.

It's battered merchandise you sell.

Not well, she can see.

And though she's heard it all a thousand times

Couched in your attempted rhymes,

She'll march to your drum and fife.

But the question echoes up before me:

Where's the magic story of a life?

Now sometimes words can serve me well

Sometimes words can go to hell

For all that they do.

And for every dream that took me high

There's been a dream that's passed me by.

I know it's so true

And I can see it clear out to the end

And I'll whisper to her now again

Because she shared my life.

For more than all the ghosts of glory

She makes up the story,

She's the only story

Of my life.

• Artist:Harry Chapin