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 pattern 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 pattern still remains
On the wall where darkness fell
And it's fitting that it should
For in darkness I must dwell
Like the color of my skin
Or the day that I grow old
My life is made of patterns
That can scarcely be controlled


Lyrics submitted by kevin

Patterns Lyrics as written by Paul Simon

Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC

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Patterns song meanings
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    General Comment

    I believe this song is about the life stages we all seem to follow…what is interesting is we all tend to go through these stages at approximately the same ages. As teenagers we long to find acceptance. In our early twenties, we long for love, but then in our late twenties we long for freedom, etc. So an elderly person’s life/psychology likely followed similar courses as our lives are or will.

    amaretto59on August 21, 2007   Link

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