Very Good Years

By David Roth

© 28^th March, 2011

With apologies to Evan Drake

And Old Blue Eyes

When I was seventeen
It was a very good year

The Beatles were cool

The Doors were hot

Hendrix was sizzling,

The Archies were not

I fell for a girl

auburn hair, eyes of green,

When I was seventeen

When I was twenty-one
It was a very good year

In a world fresh and new

I was left all alone,

I was young and alive

I was off on my own

life was sudden and full

and my days young and fun

When I was twenty-one

When I was thirty-five
It was a very good year

I have a family now

children, mortgage and wife

and if it’s not what I planned

it is an interesting life

as the clock’s ticking down

I was fully alive

When I was thirty-five

But now the days grow short
I’m in the autumn of the year
And now I think of my life as vintage wine
from fine old kegs
from the brim to the dregs
And it pours sweet and clear
It was a very good year

High school, college,

marriage,  divorce

children who thrive

by their will, by their force,

beginnings and ends

sharing memories with friends,

the times have been filled

both with laughter and tears

They’ve all been very good years,

Yes, they’ve been very good years.