seems like yesterday (an old man's childhood) (rewrite two)

seems like yesterday
we sang in the living room
it was Christmas eve
and the whole family was there
and my mother was still alive
and my father was still alive
and I hadn't learned to cry
for the ones who went before me

seems like yesterday
the sky was bluer then
we rode our bicycles
down by the railroad tracks
chimney smoke in winter air
warm in long underwear
no reason to be scared
we were all so safe 

why does time move forward
like the cruelest lion
lunging at its prey
razor-fast with every passing day

seems like yesterday
I was still somebody's son
a shy and simple boy
I thought it would never end
but nothing's what it seems
time rides on rocky streams
life is but a dream
and you are rowing

and that's all I have to say
hope I didn't overstay
guess I'll be on my way
seems like yesterday
seems like yesterday