You Were Seventeen When Last I Saw You

Lyrics

You are standing by the window with the platform at your back
Grey has found your temples and the laughter lines your eyes
I had kept you in my memory with your coat too thin for winter
And a train ticket crumpled in your hand

We say the simple things first, how the journey was, the weather
Our voices stepping softly over all the years between
But your hands remember something and I feel the old tune stirring
Underneath the careful words we choose

Who were we then
Who are we now

You were seventeen when last I saw you
And I was just as young and just as sure
Now the lamplight finds the years upon our faces
And I find I love you more
You were seventeen when last I saw you
And the world was wide and ours
Here we are, a little later, a little wiser
Under the same old stars

We walk along the river where we carved our names in summer
The bark has grown around them like a slow and patient hand
You tell me what you've carried, I tell you what I've buried
And the water takes the rest away

Nothing is lost that is truly kept
Nothing is gone that still can sing
Every year we spent apart
Was a long breath before this evening

You were seventeen when last I saw you
And I was just as young and just as sure
Now the lamplight finds the years upon our faces
And I find I love you more
You were seventeen when last I saw you
And the world was wide and ours
Here we are, a little later, a little wiser
Under the same old stars

Under the same old stars