I Didn't See the Time Go By (Je N'Ai Pas Vu le Temps Passer)

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

In still of nights and brief romances
I kissed the girls and made them cry
While 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 bit the dirt
I left some wreckage in my way
I didn't see that lies can 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,
Newer saw the darkening sky

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