...and when this poor body
lets go of its soul
no longer trapped
by this cruel world
where it is bound
heaven only knows
but I do know that I am ready

...and when I have done
all that I came to do
when I am old and now
no longer new
and the parts that I have
are worn out and used
I'll know then that I am ready

...and when the sweet breeze
whispers my name
then will my loss
be more my gain
I hope and I pray
that soon comes the day
because I know that I am ready

...and all the loved ones
that I leave behind
will then wipe with joy
the tears from their eyes
thinking of me
reminiscing on life
knowing full well that I was ready

I shall internalize to the point where i rise
Like a grey misty ash through sullen harbour skies
To descend on these eyes who never danced with ambition
Nor once sought to covet nor hold executive position
Sweeping through parochial house to office building
I consume this room as a deathly prison warden
Where time passes and falls in a desperate eerie sigh
Unable to cry in an endless stare of just getting by

I shall crawl through the past of these city streets
Retracing my footsteps as the years they recoil
The red terraced housing of old Hungry Hill
A young boy in his room sitting there still
Head full of dreams waiting for his moment to shine
Such foolish naivety of a dreamer in his prime
He would never tie his shoelaces anything but straight
Just getting by, the sole manifestation of a solemn fate

I shall leave as a mist to cover these countryside hills
As a wandering soul, a veil rolling down as early dew
Comes upon a house where children asleep in their beds
Let it be them that carry the dreams of lives better led
So that I may finally relent and lay myself down to rest
Not for deaths cold embrace but a warmer peace instead
In a world of all or nothing we have this life of you and I
Where it shall be enough to get by, by just getting by