and so I face the final curtain.
My friend, I'll say it clear, I'll state my case,
I've lived a life that's full,
I've traveled each and every highway,
And more, much more than this,
But then again, too few to mention
and saw it through without exemption
I planned each charted course,
each careful step along the byway
And more, much more than this,
When I bit off more than I could chew
when there was doubt I ate it up, and spit it out
I faced it all, and I stood tall
I've loved, I've laughed and cried,
I've had my fill, my share of losing
And now as tears subside,
I did all that, and may I say,
For what is a man, what has he got, if not himself,
then he has not to say the things he truly feels
And not the words of one who kneels
The record shows I took the blows