Swans of Teatown Lake
The swans part the lilies and glide[1],As by the lakeside I ride.
They go swimming and sunning and bobbing for fish,
And for these creatures all pleasures I'd wish.
But this life, this life is hard,
One can get so tired,
One can wonder just how to go on.
Just two together they roamed 'round the lake,
I never thought they ever would ache.
They go swimming and sunning and bobbing for fish,
And for these creatures all pleasures I'd wish.
But this life, this life is hard,
One can get so tired,
One can wonder just how to go on.
Soon there were babies, the number was four
Idyllic visions to last evermore.
To go swimming and sunning and bobbing for fish,
And for these creatures all pleasures I'd wish.
But this life, this life is hard,
One can get so tired,
One can wonder just how to go on.
Big turtles ate the babies, one by one they were gone.
All that were left were the first two swans.
To go swimming and sunning and bobbing for fish,
And for these creatures all pleasures I'd wish.
But this life, this life is hard,
One can get so tired,
One can wonder just how to go on.
Then a child came and shot with a gun.
Of the two swans, there was left one.
To go swimming and sunning and bobbing for fish,
And for this creature all pleasures I'd wish.
This life, this life is hard,
One can get so tired,
One can wonder just how to go on.
The winter has come, the winter has gone.
I ride by the lakeside and there's a new swan.
To go swimming and sunning and bobbing for fish,
And for these creatures all pleasures I'd wish.
But this life, this life is hard,
One can get so tired,
One can wonder just how to go on.
1. John Thompson - Swans on the Lake - Modern Course for the Piano First Grade Book
When I was living in Ossining, when the weather wasn’t too wintry, I had an idyllic bicycle ride to work through the woods, by Teatown Lake. There were beautiful swans on that lake, but they had also had a story of death and hardship.
MP3
Teatown route:
Winter route:
