I Didn't See the Time Go By (Je n'ai pas vu le temps passer) Lyrics

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 a price to pay
For every day I threw away
It seems I 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 half-way truth, the little lie
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 wake
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
Never saw the darkening sky
I was a minstrel of my time
Who did not see the time go by