Songtext The circle game Buffy Sainte-Marie

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 year 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
Cart wheels cross to car wheels through the town
And you tell him take your time it won’t be long now
Till you drag your feet to slow those circles down

So the boy who dreamed tomorrow now is twenty
Though his dreams have lost some grandeur, coming true
There’ll be new dreams maybe better dreams a 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 again