Gagna’s Song

[Verse 1]
For years I've been ready to let go of this life
My friends, my wife already gone
I was an old man then
Now I'm senior to the octogenarians

[Verse 2]
I was born in the year 1899
Each July I'm one year ahead
From Ipswich to Oberlin, Salisbury, Rome
The people I loved have all gone

[Chorus]
"Just remember we love you," they say by my bed
"We're here and we're holding your hands
Just remember we love you, and this will always be
You're going to join Nonna, our mother
Your beloved Josephine Jewel"

[Verse 3]
I loved her in Manhattan. I loved her in Rome
I took her to Maine by the sea
I whistled and painted, and walked with her there
And she sang the high parts for me

[Chorus]
So take this weight off my chest
Take this ache from my heart
Take this breath from my lungs
Let me slip away forever
Let me be what we become

[Bridge]
And they'll sing for me, the men from school
A silver dollar tune
I'll fly over the villas of Florence and Brittany
And graveyards with headstones for boys
Who died in the Second World War (In the War)

[Verse 4]
My affairs are in order, my children are grandparents
My work stands here and abroad
From houses to rowboats, headstones to lithographs
Libraries, watercolors and oils

[Chorus]
Oh, there've been disappointments, but mostly I'm sure
I wouldn't change a thing for this world
I open my arms and my body will close
And I go into the dream
The dream that never ends

[Outro]
Never ends
It never ends
Never ends
It never ends
Never ends