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 foolish 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 stopped to think

What life was all about

And every conversation I can now recall

Concerned itself with me just 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 just like a little wand

And never saw the waste

The waste 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 happy songs in me

That won't be sung

I feel the bitter taste of tears

Of tears upon my tongue

The time has come for me to pay

For yesterday when I was young