[Verse 1]
My friends, I never really thought you'd go
But, then, we know that's the way it happens here
Now time is like cat's cradle in my hands:
Oh, and I gather up the strands much too slowly

[Verse 2]
The refugees are gone... They take their separate paths
Obliterate the past, figures in an ash shroud
Susie, I guess you're on your way to be a star
But I don't know where you are;
And the only time I seem to see you is on the TV

[Chorus]
Oh, yes, it's so easy just to slip away...

[Bridge]
And Mike!
It's a year or two since I've seen you...
I might have dropped you a line
If I'd had time
Or the will

[Instrumental Break]

[Verse 3]
It's my fault too: well, I know that I played a hermit's role
Of cars and stages, of wages, of supersoul
And I hardly ever seem to get outside these days
And so, dear friends, as we grow on we feel to grow away
And we can only live in the hope that some day it will all return
[Chorus]
But it's so easy to slip away...
Yes, it's easy just to slip away...