This is the turning of the year The final scene before the curtain falls The squirrel, warm within his bed of leaves cannot hear the wind that blows around the chimney pots For like the pilgrim of the year gone by Once he was a young man who laughed in the spring And lay beneath an upturned sky on long hot summer days But with autumn he grows mellow He looks over his shoulder Down the long year path of no return Already he is but a memory Fading like a shadow on the wall But time with restless footsteps hurries by and now beside the road There stands the pilgrim of the year to be Falling leaves turn to gold Silver flowers on my window Spirit of the fading year He knows not where He cannot say, oh no Naked trees in the sky Stars are shining clear and cold The minstrel of the ages sings of oh so long ago An age old tune without a name No one knows In the white falling snow The pilgrim travels on His face towards the sun Beyond the open road he travels on Past the lamp shining windows And faces by the fire Before the midnight hour For Christmas time has come around again Go to sleep, little child You shouldn't be awake Go to sleep little child Time to let the night go by Waiting for the sound of a magic sleigh The chimneys not too tall they say Or the roof too high for a reindeer to fly No not too high for a reindeer to fly The clock strikes twelve on a street below They hurry to a church to pray "Forgive our sins and negligence Accept our humble penitence It's been a year ago today Since we were here" Choir gently sings an anthem Not too loud or out of key Congregation turn eye corners When the plate goes round to see Who gives the most on Christmas day The most on Christmas day Twilight days are slipping far away Just sand into an hour glass For winter time is slowly passed And cannot last forever North wind turn your back upon the doors that you have blown West wind melt the organ pipes of ice That glitter on the eaves of the houses in the town And the sun wakes up the flowers That slumber through the winter And warms the sleepy faces Waiting for the spring The skies of steel and fields white with frost are memories of yesterday And while scarecrow children search the hedgerows and splash through muddy pools for secrets The spirit of the spring with the sunbeams on her hair shakes the sleeping earth And with the pilgrim by her side She murmurs in the trees And in the ears of all who listen "Now time to wake for winter has gone" With flowers in her hair She smiles again and like a child cares nothing for tomorrow She spreads her wings Catch her if you see her in your mind's eye For she smiles in a Mona Lisa way Sun is rising from a cloud above your head When you instead are sleeping All is knowing, all is growing And no one knows which way their mind is blowing And now she finds her work is almost done And like a child cares nothing for tomorrow And like a child cares nothing for tomorrow And like a child thinks only for today The pilgrim wanders with the spirit of the spring, enchanted As if tomorrow will never come But time is running out And as she bids him farewell Only the echo of her voice remains For now she flies On the bare back of the south wind Across the naked mountains Above the winding rivers Breathing gently on the meadows Scattering her flowers into the grass and the hedgerows Fading through the back door Long summer day Golden fingers pointing at my doorway Meadow sleeping Watching for the sky to turn you on The air filled with heytime Blowing past a flower-print lady On a seat in the park Wears a paper on her head She never read at all She's just keeping her mind in the dark Keeping her mind in the dark You know she's cool She's just like an ice-cream man And don't you see what I mean She's doing the best that she can Doing the best that she can Hey Mr. Sunshine Like a Harlequin you're dancing on my picture book today Ooh It's a good time And I'm floating far away Chew on a candy-floss in the pouring rain Kids are crying again Kids are crying again Holiday time Down on a beach with the crowd Trying to look for the sun Taking whatever you can And your deckchair is an island In a kaleidoscope world Jamming cars, crowded bars Standing trains or smell the drains The quiver in the heat of the city street God, I must get away Hey Mr. Sunshine And I'm floating far away Down the wide open road The pilgrim travels on His face towards the sun Beyond the open road he travels on And the waves steal the footprints Of the summer from the sand Beneath the silver moon The North wind blows the fading leaves again Around and around All has nearly turned full circle The warm lazy days of sunshine And brown rivers winding through the meadows are a tale of yesterday The pilgrim sighs And draws his mantle close about him in the smoky evening He watches the leaves wither and fall Frost has rimmed the pools with ice And hung diamonds in the spider's web For this is the turning of the year The final scene before the curtain falls And now beside the road there stands the pilgrim of the year to be Falling leaves turn to gold Silver flowers on my window Spirit of the fading year He knows not where He cannot say