I Didn't See The Time Go By

Now as the wheel of life turns faster
Now as the seasons seem to fly
I see so many things at last
But didn't see the time go by.

I've known delight, I've known disaster
The caviar, the humble pie
From the absurd to the sublime
I didn't see the time go by.

I didn't see the years roll on
I didn't know the road would bend
Refused to see when youth was gone
Pretending it might never end
Now there is price to pay for every day I threw away.

It seems I've wasted half a lifetime
Within the blinking of an eye
I didn't hear the midnight chime
I didn't see the time go by
I didn't see the time go by.

In stolen nights and brief romances
I kissed the girls and made them cry
Where there were balconies to climb
I didn't see the time go by.

I was the guy with all the answers
The halfway truths, the little lies
So sure, so certain in my prime
I didn't see the time go by.

I hit the heights, I beat the dirt
I left some wreckage in my wake
I didn't see the lies could hurt
I didn't know how hearts can break
And now they come to haunt my mind
The lives I touched and left behind.

I've sung a hundred songs of longing
Of sweet regret and hope run dry
I've searched for melody and rhyme
But never saw how time can fly
Never saw the darkening sky
Never saw the darkening sky.

I was a minstrel of my time
Who did not see the time go by.