The night sets softly
With the hush of falling leaves
Casting shivering shadows

On the houses through the trees
And the light from a street lamp
Paints a shadow on my wall

Like the pieces of a puzzle
Or a child's uneven scrawl


Up a narrow flight of stairs
In a narrow little room
As I lie upon my bed

In the early evening gloom
Impaled on my wall
My eyes can dimly see

The pattern of my life
And the puzzle that is me


From the moment of my birth
To the instant of my death
There are patterns I must follow

Just as I must breathe each breath
Like a rat in a maze
The path before me lies

And the pattern never alters
Until the rat dies
The path before me lies

And the pattern never alters

And the pattern still remains

On the wall where darkness fell
And it's fitting that it should
For in darkness I must dwell

Like a rat in a maze

Up a narrow flight of stairs

In a narrow little room
As I lie upon my bed
In the early evening gloom

Impaled on my wall
My eyes can dimly see
The pattern of my life

And the puzzle that is me

Like the color of my skin,

And the day that I grow old
My life is made of patterns
That can scarcely be controlled