Life for me ain't been to crystal stair.
It's had tacks in it.
And splinters,
And boards torn up,
And places with no carpet on the floor -
Bare.
But all the time
I'se been a-climbin' on,
And reachin' landins'
And turnin' corners,
And sometimes goin' in the dark
Where there ain't been no light.
So, boy, don't you turn back,
Don't you set down on the steps
'Cause you finds it's kinder hard.
Don't you fall now -
For I'se still goin', honey
I'se still climbin'
And life for me ain't been no crystal stair.

Favorite people, favorite places, favorite memories of the past. . .
These are the joys of a lifetime. . . these are the things that last.

Life lives, life dies.
Life laughs, life cries.
Life gives up and life tries.
But life looks different through everyone's eyes.

If you will not have me as myself
Perhaps as someone else
Perhaps as you
I'll be worth noticing

I shut my eyes and all the world drops dead;
I lift my lids and all is born again.
I think I made you up inside my head.

Quietly you walk your ways;
Steadfast duty fills the days.
Swift the weeks are on the wing;
Years are brief, and love a thing
Blooming, fading, like a flower;
Wake and seize the little hour.
What will tomorrow tell?
With that thought in mind I bid thee - farwell!

Backward, flow backward, O tide of the years!
I am so weary of toil and of tears, -
Toil without recompense, tears all in vain!
Take them, and give me my childhood again!

Every time you cry, save up all your tears.
I will be your rainbow when they all disappear.

Some things are over,
some things go on,
part of me you carry,
and part of me is gone.

We laughed until we had to cry,
we loved right down to our last goodbye. . .

Just as flower petals form a picture
as they fall into a stream,
These tears that fall onto my pillow,
fall even as I dream.

There are no impossible dreams.
There are no invisible seams.
Each night when the day is through
I don't ask much, I just want you.

You could do so much for me
If you just would.
If you just knew.
I am I and you are you
And I know it
And you don't know it
And you could do so much for me
If you just would
And if you just would
Then I could tell you
And then nobody would have to know it
Except you and me.

Oh she's nice, she's kind,
Innocent too.
She's probably pretty
The right one for you
So Just forget me:
I'm only a friend
Though I'll be with You
Until the end

When you talk about tomorrow
I'm not sure about today,
when you tell me that you love me,
what am I supposed to say?

I see you, the only one who knew me,
but now your eyes see through me,
I guess I was wrong.

Deep inside my hunger grows,
got to find the rainbow in the rose.

I've been so lost I must confess,
I've had my share of loneliness.

The heart may freeze, or it can burn,
the pain will ease if I can learn.

Seasons change, friends move away,
and life goes on from day to day.
Flowers fade and streams go dry,
and many times we wonder why. . .

Everybody asks me how she's doing
Has she really lost her mind?
I said, I couldn't tell you
I've lost mine

There is something in the way she moves
or looks my way or calls my name
that seems to leave this troubled world behind

You ask me to enter
But then you made me crawl
And I can't be holding on
To what you got
When all you got is hurt

You're dangerous 'cause your honest
You're dangerous 'cause you don't know what you want

Once upon a time,
I dreamt
I was a butterfly. . . Suddenly
I awoke. . . Now, I do not
know whether I was then
a man dreaming I was
a butterfly, or whether I
was a butterfly dreaming
that I am a man.