Yesterday When I Was Young [French translation]

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 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.

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• Artist:Herbert Kretzmer