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 happy songs

Were waiting to be sung

So many wayward pleasures

Lay in store for me

And so much pain

My 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