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 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 the 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