I loved everything once

a song brought back to me
a winter day's memory
years and years away
in a city I no longer see
when the fear and excitement of youth
surged through me
right through every street
and every heartbeat
of a teenager's abridged history

I lost myself in that reverie
and I thought of all that once used to be
of the love I once felt for a friend
and the love I felt for a girl I haven't seen since then
of quiet and peace, and of anxious release
when I knew (I knew!) that this life has no end

It's been so long now
and I've since given up a lot
the faces are lost to me
and so is the time
the song still rings though
harking back to my mind
with its sweet melody
a rhyme long forgotten
and long since left behind by me

a hotel room in Hong Kong

yes! that was it!
I remember it all now, right now

a hotel room in Hong Kong
is where I once knew everything for a moment
before it all slipped away again

it was there I saw it all

Christ
there's nothing
nothing
more beautiful
than a moment of levity
that relieves itself from a headlong rush
toward an unavoidable calamity

nothing ever came close

I loved everything once
I loved everything and everyone just that once
and nothing ever came so close...

it's all gone now
it's all just

words, words, words