When we were simple and naïve We wore our feelings on our sleeve As we've grown jaded and corrupt Our manner's guarded and abrupt
Oh, how we'd smile most readily Whilst ploughing on unsteadily Now frowns are etched upon our face We can no longer stand the pace
Although we've got to go with the passing show It doesn't ever mean we haven't made the scene And what we think we know to what is really so Is but a smithereen of what it might have been
We'd sing in gay abandon then We'd get it wrong and try again As here we brood with doubts assailed Nothing ventured, nothing failed
When life itself can chart the course Then life's the product we endorse When circumstances tell of death We keep our counsel, save our breath
Our laughter rang around the world When we were happy boys and girls As now we baulk and hesitate Encumbrance comes to those who wait
But when we're torn from mortal coil We leave behind a counterfoil It's what we did and who we knew And that's what makes this story true