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 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 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 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