Yesterday, When I Was Young

Yesterday when I was young,

Yesterday when I was young,
The taste of life was sweet
Like the 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 to last
On weak and shifting sand
I lived by night and shunned
The naked light of day,
And only now I see
How the years have all run away.

Yesterday when I was young,
There were so many songs
That waited to be sung.
So many wild pleasures
That lay in store for me,
And so much pain
My dazzled eyes refused to see

I ran so fast to find
And youth at last ran out
And I never stopped to think
What life was all about
And every conversation
That I can recall
Concerned itself with me
And nothing else at all

Yesterday the moon was blue,
And every crazy day
Brought something new to do
And I used my magic cage
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
So quickly, quickly die.
The friends I made all seemed
Somehow to drift away,
And only I am left
On the stage to end the play

Yesterday when I was young
There were so many songs
That waited to be sung
So many wild pleasures
Lay in store for me,
And so much pain
My dazzled eyes refused to see.

There are so many songs
In me that won't be sung.
Cause I feel the bitter taste
Of tears upon my tongue
And the time has come for me
To pay for Yesterday
When I was young