I Dreamed a Dream

There was a time when men were kind.

When their voices were soft

and their words inviting.

There was a time when love was blind

and the world was a song

and the song was exciting.

There was a time.

Then it all went wrong.

I dreamed a dream in time gone by,

when hope was high and life worth living.

I dreamed that love would never die.

I dreamed that God would be forgiving.

Then I was young and unafraid

and dreams were made and used and wasted.

There was no ransom to be paid,

no song unsung, no wine untasted.

But the tigers come at night

with their voices soft as thunder.

As they tear your hope apart.

As they turn your dream to shame.

He slept a summer by my side.

He filled my days with endless wonder.

He took my childhood in his stride,

but he was gone when autumn came.

And still I dream he'll come to me,

that we will live the years together.

But there are dreams that cannot be,

and there are storms we cannot weather.

I had a dream my life would be

so different from this hell I'm living,

so different now from what it seemed.

Now life has killed the dream I dreamed.