It's a Shame, Isn't It 

It's a shame, isn't it

That it takes age to know

That the strange paths life has taken us on

That the plans we made that didn't come true

That the dreams we wove out of whole cloth

That have led us to where we are

Have been counted as failures 

It's a shame, isn't it

That the millions of mistakes

That we made in raising our children and ourselves

That we cannot know what they were or what they mean

Until we’re old

Until the mistakes cannot be erased

And that we count ourselves failures 

It’s a shame, isn’t it

That the events we counted as success

That the money we made

That the promotions we think we earned

That the degrees we achieved

Cannot be atoned

Cannot be changed 

It’s a shame, isn’t it

That we haven’t learned by now

That whatever it is we do

That wherever we find ourselves

That is what we were meant to do and where we were meant to be

And that the joy in life comes from

Never counting successes or failures