Dm           
The night sets softly 
                         F    Dm      
With the hush of falling le-e-eaves, 
                      
Casting   shivering shadows 
                          C             
On the houses through the trees, 
        Dm                   
And the light from a street lamp 
                       F    Dm    
Paints a pattern on my wa-a-all, 
                       C 
  Like the pieces of a puzzle 
     Bb      C        Dm            
Or a child's   uneven scrawl 

     Dm                   
Up a narrow flight of stairs 
                   F    Dm    
In a narrow little ro-o-oom, 
                   
As I lie upon my bed 
                     C             
In the early evening gloom. 
  Dm                  
Impaled on my wall 
                  F    Dm    
My eyes can dimly se-e-e 
                   C 
 The pattern of my life 
        Bb     C        Dm         
And the puzzle  that is me. 

         Dm               
From the moment of my birth 
                     F    Dm     
To the instant of my de-e-eath, 
                            
There are Patterns I must follow 
                            C              
Just as I must breathe each breath. 
       Dm              
Like a rat in a maze 
                   F    Dm    
The path before me li-i-ies, 
                       C 
 And the pattern never alters 
  Bb  C        Dm           
Until  the rat dies. 

        Dm                   
And the pattern still remains 
                           F    Dm     
On the wall where darkness fe-e-ell, 
                           
And it's fitting that it should, 
                        C             
For in darknesss I must dwell. 
         Dm                 
Like the color of my skin, 
                       F     Dm    
Or the day that I grow o-o-o-old, 
                   C 
My life is made of Patterns 
         Bb       C      Dm              
That can scarcely  be controlled.