(原詩)

Ticking away the moments
That make up a dull day
Fritter and waste the hours
In an offhand way
Kicking around on a piece
Of ground in your hometown
Waiting for someone or something
To show you the way

Tired of lying in the sunshine,
Staying home to watch the rain
You are young and life is long
And there is time to kill today
And then one day you find
Ten years have got behind you
No one told you when to run,
You missed the starting gun

(interlude)

And you run, and you run to catch up
With the sun, but it's sinking
Racing around to come up
Behind you again
The sun is the same in a relative way,
But you're older, shorter of breath,
And one day closer to death

Every year is getting shorter,
Never seem to find the time
Plans that either come to naught
Or half a page of scribbled lines
Hanging on in quiet desperation
Is the English way
The time is gone, the song is over,
Thought I'd something more to say

Home, home again
I like to be here when I can
And when I come home cold and tired
It's good to warm my bones
Beside the fire
Far away across the field
The tolling of the iron bell
Calls the faithful to their knees
To hear the softly spoken magic spells