Seems the love I've known has always been The most destructive kind Yes, that's why now I feel so old Before my time. 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'd always built to last 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 happy songs were waiting to be sung, So many wild 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...