This Is Life

(album: Black - 1987)

If your lonely heart is aching,
Think you can't take any more,
You have to cup your hands to keep the light.
I will lean across your shoulder
And whisper in your ear
That this is life.
If you're old enough to face it,
You are old enough to fake it,
To get what you desire and still ask why.
Then I'll tap you on the shoulder
And whisper in your ear
That this is life.
This is what you struggled for,
No reprisals, no resistance,
This is life.
Can you answer me a question
Have you lain awake at night,
The blinds undrawn, the ceiling streaked with light?
You feel tired but you can't sleep,
Feel so hungry you can't eat
Well, this is life.
Has your courage seemed to fail you
As you take your chosen path?
You pass a camel through a needle's eye.
Get up in tiny little pieces
And you've learnt the major rule:
That this is life.
This is what you waited for,
No rehearsals, no more stalling,
This is life.
Have it tattooed on the inside
Of your pink and sleepy eyelids;
This is life.
This is life.

Absence makes the heart grow fonder,
Grow more foolish than we can ever guess.
You feel your nerve ends slowly coiling
And you hope the answer's "no", the answer's "yes".
This is what you struggled for,
No reprisals, no resistance,
This is life.
This is what you waited for,
No rehearsals, no more stalling,
This is life.
If you can't do what you ought,
Lead by example, don't get caught,
'cause this is life.
Uh, this is life.
This is life.
This is life.
This is life.
This is life.