Al Stewart – A Man For All Seasons lyrics

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 my 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 Plantagenet 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 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 ah, there's nothing to believe in
Hear them ah, 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 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 Valhalla

While you try to accept what fates are unfolding
While some say they're sure where the blame 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