The circle game
C F C - G
1. Yesterday a child came out to wonder,
C F G -
Bb
caught a dragonfly inside a
jar,
C F Em
fearful when the sky was full
of thunder,
F C
G C
and tearful
at the falling of a star.
C F C - G
2. Then the child moved ten times round the seasons,
C F G
- Bb
skated over
ten clear frozen streams.
C F
Em
Words like, “when you’re older”,
must appease him,
F C G C
and promises of someday make
his dreams.
C F C
And the seasons, they go round and round,
C F C
and the painted ponies go up and down,
F C
we’re captive on the carousel
of time.
F Em F
We can’t return, we can only look behind from where we came,
C - - -
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
G C -
F - C - F
and go round and round and round In the circle game.
C F
C -
G
3. Sixteen springs and sixteen summers gone now,
C F G
- Bb
cartwheels lost to car wheels
through the town.
C F
Em
And you tell him, “Take your
time, it won’t be long now,
F C G C
till you
drag your feet to slow the circles down.”
C
F C
- G
4. So the boy could be tomorrow, now he’s twenty,
C F G
- Bb
though his
dreams have lost some grandeur coming true.
C F
Em
There’ll be new dreams, maybe
better dreams, and plenty,
F C G C
before the
last revolving year is through.
C F C
And the seasons, they go round and round,
C F C
and the painted ponies go up and down,
F
C
we’re captive on the carousel
of time.
F
Em F
We can’t return, we can only
look behind from where we came,
C - - - - - - - - - -
- - - F
and go round and round and round …
C - - -
- - - - - - - - - - F
and go round and round and
round …
C - - -
- - - - - - - - - - F
and go round and round and
round …
(orig. = capo 2nd) (Buffy
Sainte-Marie