Lifetime

Sung in Egyptian Arabic, this is a pep talk to someone who was told their chance has passed. The speaker answers that they have not even written the first line yet, that years may have gone by and the heart is still sad because it is still waiting, but life is in your hands: do not let it slip. Every day waits for you to write something in it, a hope, a laugh after pain. When one door closes another opens. Do not believe the voices that call you finished; ask whose pain taught you how to stand. He tells the listener to get up and begin the dream, to refuse surrender, and in the English verses to stand up and say your own name. Even alone at the end of the road, you can hear your heart beating, and there is still spirit in you.