Shadows On the Wind - Janis Ian

In my dreams of late, I seem another

Someone I have never been

All around me are the shapes

Of shadows on the wind

Here’s the ghost of what my mother wanted

And the shade of father’s dreams

They are gone, and still I’m haunted

By restless go-betweens

Fatherless, motherless

Yesterday’s child begins

Life alone, missing home

Orphaned by time, I spin

Like shadows on the wind

In my dreams of late, I am a vagrant

And I’ve never known a past

All the memories I have

Are shadows on the glass

What I see of me is unfamiliar

Like some pearl without a shell

And the stranger in the mirror

Someone I once knew well

Fatherless, motherless

Yesterday’s child begins

Life alone, missing home

Orphaned by time, I spin

Like shadows on the wind

When I dream of love, I dream my mother

Anchored to the shifting sands

When I dream of strength

I dream my father’s hands

In my dreams of late are signs and wonders

On the faces I have worn

I can hear the distant thunder

Of shadows being born

Fatherless, motherless

Yesterday’s child begins

Life alone, missing home

Orphaned by time, I spin

Like shadows on the wind