Oh the neon lights were flashing and the icy wind did blow   The water seeped into his shoes and the drizzle turned to snow   His eyes were red his hopes were dead and the wine was running low   And the old man came home from the forest   His tears fell on the sidewalk as he stumbled to the street   A dozen faces stopped to stare but no one stopped to speak   For his castle was a hallway and the bottle was his friend   And the old man stumbled in from the forest   [ ac.guitar ]   Up a dark and dingy staircase the old man made his way   His ragged coat around him as upon his cot he lay   And he wondered how it happened that he'd ended up this way   Getting lost like a fool in the forest   And as he lay there sleeping a vision did appear   Upon his mantle shining the face of one so dear   Who'd loved him in the springtime of a long forgotten year   When the wildflowers did bloom in the forest   [ harmonica ]   She touched his grizzled fingers as she called him by his name   And then he heard the joyful sound of children at their games   In an old house on a hillside in some forgotten town   Where the river runs down from the forest   With a mighty roar the big jet soars above the canyon streets   And the con men con but life goes on for the city never sleeps   But to an old forgotten soldier the dawn will come no more   For the old man has come home from the forest