The Circle Game

Yesterday a child came out to wonder
 Caught a dragonfly inside a jar
 Fearful when the sky was full of thunder
 And tearful at the falling of a star
 Then the child moved ten times round the seasons
 Skated over ten clear frozen streams
 Words like, when you're older, must appease him
 And promises of someday make his dreams
 And the seasons they go round and round
 And the painted ponies go up and down
 We're captive on the carousel of time
 We can't return we can only look behind
 From where we came
 And go round and round and round
 In the circle game
 Sixteen springs and sixteen summers gone now
 Cartwheels turn to car wheels through the town
 And they tell him,
 Take your time, it won't be long now
 Till you drag your feet to slow the circles down
 And the seasons they go round and round
 And the painted ponies go up and down
 We're captive on the carousel of time
 We can't return we can only look behind
 From where we came
 And go round and round and round
 In the circle game
 So the years spin by and now the boy is twenty
 Though his dreams have lost some grandeur coming true
 There'll be new dreams, maybe better dreams and plenty
 Before the last revolving year is through
 And the seasons they go round and round
 And the painted ponies go up and down
 We're captive on the carousel of time
 We can't return, we can only look behind
 From where we came
 And go round and round and round
 In the circle game