A Man For All Seasons - Al Stewart

What if you reached the age of reason

Only to find there was no reprieve

Would you still be a man for all seasons?

Or would you just have to leave

We measure our days out

In steps of uncertainty

Not turning to see how we’ve come

And peer down the highway

From here to eternity

And reach out for love on the run

While the man for all seasons

Is lost behind the sun

Henry Plantagenent still looks for someone

To bring good news in his hour of doubt

While Thomas More waits in the Tower of London

Watching the sands running out

And measures the hours out

From here to oblivion

In actions that can’t be undone

A sailor through the darkness

He scans the meridian

And caught by the first rays of dawn

The man for all seasons

Is lost beneath the storm

And I should know by now

I should know by now

I hear them call it out all around

Oh, they go

There’s nothing to believe in

Hear them

Just daydreams, deceiving

They’ll just let you down

So what if you reached the age of reason

Only to find there was no reprieve

Would you still be a man for all seasons?

Or would you just disbelieve?

We measure our gains out in luck and coincidence

Lanterns to turn back in the night

And put our defeats down to chance or experience

And try once again for the light

Some wait for the waters of fortune to cover them

Some just see the tides of ill chance rushing over them

Some call on Jehovah

Some cry out to Allah

Some wait for the boats that still row to Valhallah

Well, you try to accept what the fades are unfolding

While some say they’re sure where the shame should be falling

You look round for maybe a chance of forestalling

But too soon it’s over and done

And the man for all seasons

Is lost behind the sun