Don't Live In the Past
She stands outside; the sun's to her back;
Her shadow keeps her from being alone.
It's an autumn day, the sky is blue,
It dawns on her how time has flown.
Twas only yesterday, it seems,
She was a blue-eyed girl of five.
Today she's turning twenty-one;
This day has far too soon arrived.
Her younger years have come and gone
Far too quickly it would seem.
She wishes she could turn back time;
She feels it all must be a dream.
She sighs into the pitying wind;
Nostalgia flickers in her eyes.
To Her golden years of teenage youth
She didn't get to say good-bye.
The singing of the nearby birds
Adds to this melancholic mood.
Her eyes close as she reminisces
Of when life was easy and good.
Memories flow into her mind,
They make her happy as well as sad.
Those days when everyone seemed good,
When the world didn't seem so bad.
When life wasn't so tangled;
When trust was easy to feel;
Those times when Mother could fix it all,
And when innocence was very real.
She wants to live those days again,
She wants to feel that young once more.
But she knows the past cannot return;
Life will not be what it was before.
To the memories of those years,
When life seemed brighter than today,
She desperately tries to hold on
For fear they'll slowly fade away.
She wants to engrave them on her heart,
And lock each memory in her mind.
So on the days she feels the need
She can relive them time after time.
Poor dear girl, poor dear woman...
You see the past is always this way.
The sunsets of yesteryears
Seem more glorious than those of today.
But now you've begun a new chapter
To fill with other memorable things.
All life's stages have their beauty;
Make the most of all life brings.
You're not a ghost, you're not a phantom;
You weren't meant to live in the past.
You can't live your life on memories.
Make new ones; they too will last.