Chasing What's Already Gone - Mary Chapin Carpenter

There’s a big white house on a leafy street

On a summer’s day of 1963

Station wagons parked in the drive

Dents in the fender and wood on the side

There’s kids and dogs and instamatic cubes squinting hard in the sun

Not just yet, but one day too

They’ll be chasing what’s already gone

You grow up tall and you grow up tough

Trying to never admit not feeling good enough

Until you find your passion and you find your way

Just trying to make it unscathed through every day

And it seems to happen nearly overnight

Life shows you who you’ve become

And there’s no more mystery in the fading light

You’re just chasing what’s already gone

Like the line that spells the far horizon

Moving with you as fast as you can run

Half your life you pay it no attention

The rest you can’t stop wondering

What you should have done

Instead of chasing what’s already gone

Saw my father in a dream last night

He was smiling and saying «You're gonna be all right»

And this morning I stared back at myself

Feeling as empty as I’ve ever felt

But I keep on going and I hope I’ve learned

More of what’s right than what’s wrong

It’s ashes and roses and time that burns

When you’re chasing what’s already gone

Ashes and roses and hearts that break

I tried so hard to be strong

But maybe my worries were not my first mistake

I’m chasing what’s already gone