We Had Times

We had times for dancing under starry skies,
But I never wanted to dance.
We had times for moonlit sea swimming,
But I cannot swim too well.
We had all the young days,
But I wasted them
Searching for that one true song
I never found.

Wasted so much time on fashionable poses
And knowing what was cool,
Right down to a tenth of a degree.

Then one morning, alone by the sea,
I saw how little it all seemed
Against the horizon.
I had been there, sorting through grey pebbles
Ignoring the sand, rock pools
And the sea.

Waves come and waves go,
Sandcastles fall into heaps
As our footprints are washed away
While the gulls fight over the scraps
We leave behind.

We had time for poetry,
But I did not know words could be used that way.
We had time for romance,
But I only had the arrogant
Ignorance of youth.

We had the summer warmth
I wasted being cool.
We had long winters lying together
While I stared off into the distance
Waiting for my life to begin.