Oh, the neon lights were flashing, and the icy wind it blowed The water seeped into his shoes, and the drizzle turned to snow
His eyes were red, his hopes were dead, and the wine was running low And the old man came home from the forest
His tears fell on the sidewalk as he stumbled in the street A dozen faces stopped to stare, but no one stopped to speak
For his castle was a hallway, and the bottle was his friend And the old man stumbled in from the forest
Up a dark and dingy staircase the old man made his way His ragged coat around him as upon his cot he lay And he wondered how it happened that he'd ended up this way
Getting lost like a fool in the forest And as he lay there sleeping a vision did appear Upon his mantle shining the face of one so dear Who'd loved him in the springtime of a long forgotten year
When the wildflowers did bloom in the forest She touched his grizzled fingers and she called him by his name And then he heard the joyful sound of children at their games
In an old house on a hillside in some forgotten town Where the river runs down from the forest
With a mighty roar the big jet soars above the canyon streets And the conmen con but life goes on for the city never sleeps And to an old forgotten soldier the dawn will come no more
For the old man has come home from the forest