It Once Was Mine
Words and music by Tom May


Nothing like the nostalgia of a young man; written in Boston, Massachusetts 1977, after the demise of my first marriage


Verse 1
In times gone by, not long ago
We hurried from the Midwest snow
Found a place that we could hide within
But the winds blew cold as they sometimes do
We soon were taught what we thought we knew
We split to roam our separate ways again

Chorus
Can it all have really happened, or is my mind just playin’ tricks
I guess it’s true that illusions stand the test of time
(the streets and alleys I once walked, seem to echo back that carefree talk;
I realize as I listen that it once was mine)

Verse 2
It’s never true, that nothin’s changed
With every love there’s a load of pain
Every leavin’ has left a stain on me
This town is home, but somethin’s wrong
There’s a feelin’ that I don’t belong
Familiar sights and sounds won’t let me be

Chorus
Can it all have really happened, or is my mind just playin’ tricks
I guess it’s true that illusions stand the test of time
(it’s strange to be a stranger here, to feel my past so very near,
to reach out close and to touch what once was mine)

Verse 3
The windows where I lived are bare
The railings broken on the stairs
And I wonder if my old key would still get me in
But what would be the sense in that
It’s just another upstairs flat
And it just would hurt, to recall what might have been

Chorus
Can it all have really happened, or is my mind just playin’ tricks
I guess it’s true that illusions stand the test of time
(if beyond that door lay another year, I’d hold you in my arms my dear
pretend I couldn’t hear what once was mine)

Can it all have really happened, or is my mind just playin’ tricks
I guess it’s true that illusions stand the test of time
(the streets and alleys I once walked, seem to echo back that carefree talk;
I realize as I listen that it once was mine)

©1977 Blue Vignette Publishing, ASCAP