Yesterday, When I Was Young

Yesterday, when I was young,

The taste of life was sweet, as rain upon my tongue,

I teased with life, as if it were a silly game,

The way the evening breeze can tease a candle flame

The thousand dreams I dreamed, the splendid things I planned,

I always built, alas, on weak and shifting sand,

I lived by night, and I shunned the naked light of day,

And only now, I see, how the years have ran away

Yesterday, when I was young,

So many happy songs were waiting to be sung,

So many wild pleasures lay in store for me,

And so much pain, my dazzled eyes refused to see

I ran so fast that time, and youth at last ran out,

I never, never stopped to think, what life, was all about,

And every conversation, I can now recall,

Concerned itself with me, and nothing else at all

Yesterday, the moon was blue,

And every crazy day, brought something new to do,

I used my magic youth, as if it were a wand,

And never saw the worst, and the emptiness beyond

The game of love I played, with arrogance and pride,

And every flame I lit, too quickly, quickly died,

The friends I made, all seemed somehow to drift away,

And only I am left, on stage to end the play

There are so many songs in me, that won't be sung,

I feel the bitter taste, of tears upon my tongue,

The time has come for me to pay,

For yesterday, when I was young