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 itwere 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 friedns i made all seemed somehow to drift away

and only i am left on stage to end the play.

yesterday when i was young.