Lyrics Forsaken Gardens - Peter Hammill

Forsaken Gardens

Where are all the joys of yesterday?
Where, now, is the happiness and laughter that we shared?
Gone, like our childhood dreams, aspirations and beliefs;
Time is a thief, and he ravages our gardens
Stripping saplings, felling trees
Trampling on our flowers, sucking sap and drying seeds
In the midnight candle-light of experience
All colour fades, green fingers grey
Time, alone, shall murder all the flowers
Still, there’s time to share our plots and all that we call 'ours'
How much worse, then, if we all deny each others' needs
And keep our gardens privately?
Its getting colder, wind and rain leave gashes;
Looking back, I only see the friends I’ve lost
Fires smoulder, raking through the ashes
My hands are dirty, my mind is numb
I count the cost of 'I':
«I need to get on, I’ve got to tend my garden;
Got to shut you out, no time to crave your pardon now»
Now I see the garden that I’ve grown is
Just the same as those outside;
The fences that, erected to protect, simply divide…
There’s ruination everywhere
The weather has played havoc with the grass…
Does anyone believe his garden’s really going to last?
In the time allotted us, can any man keep miserly his own?
Is there any pleasure in a solitary growth?
Come and see my garden if you will
I’d like someone to see it all before each root is killed
Surely now its time to open up each life to all
Tear down the walls, if it’s not too late!
There is so much sorrow in the world
There is so much emptiness and heartbreak and pain
Somewhere on the road we have all taken a wrong turn…
How can we build the right path again?
Through the grief, through the pain
Our flowers need each other’s rain…