Lyrics to the song 'Beautiful'
from Stephen Sondheim's 'Sunday in the Park with George'
(as printed in his book Look, I Made a Hat):


Beautiful


Old Lady

Changing.
It keeps changing.
I see towers
Where there were trees.

Going. All the stillness,
The solitude,
Georgie.

Sundays
Disappearing
All the time,
When things were beautiful...


George

All things are beautiful,
Mother,
All trees, all towers,
Beautiful.
That tower -
Beautiful, Mother,
See?

A perfect tree.

Pretty isn't beautiful, Mother.
Pretty is what changes.
What the eye arranges
Is what is beautiful.


Old Lady

Fading...


George

I'm changing.
You're changing.


Old Lady

It keeps fading...


George

I'll draw us now before we fade,
Mother.


Old Lady

It keeps melting before our eyes.


George

You watch
While I revise the world.


Old Lady

Changing.
As we sit here -
Quick, draw it all, Georgie!


Both

Sundays -


Old Lady

Disappearing,
As we look.


George

Look!...
Look!...


Old Lady

You make it beautiful.

Oh, Georgie, how I long for the old view.