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 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