The End of Summer Nights

Wrapped in summer's velvet night,
wishing by the firelight
that for a while, time might wait,
that dawn might break a little late

so we could stay here, hand in hand,
because at the end of it all, we understand.
For every second falling past,
every moment that cannot last,

we're on our sailing, sinking ships,
full of holes and leaks and drips,
and two years, three years, four go by,
and all too soon we drift or die.

Come morning we go east and west,
this split more final than the rest.
We're growing up and moving on
and I miss the days already gone.

It's these final hours that fall too fast,
young faces by firelight, smiles that can't last,
and minds desperate to hold onto this sight,
this bittersweet end of summer nights.