Yesterday When I Was Young

Yesterday when I was young,

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

I teased at life as if it were a foolish game.

The way the evening breeze may teeze the 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 shunned the naked light of day

And only now I see how the years ran away.

Yesterday when I was young,

So many drinking songs were waiting to be sung.

So many wayward 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 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 age as if it were a wand,

And never saw the waste and 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 slip away

And only now I'm left alone 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,

Young,

Young.