A Long Time Ago Poem by James Riviera

And those three magic words were spoken
All the lover’s spells were broken
His book of words lay in ruins by the fireside
He went to fix them, he tried and tried
But his efforts were to no avail
He walked away, and his face turned pale
And later, down by the river banks
He looked at all the pages, but they were blank
So he wrote and he wrote and words appeared
And the world around him disappeared
And it was soon just as he feared
The sun went dark against the sky
So he turned around, and said his good-bye
The people all started to wave
They thought it was them he was going to save
And he stepped onto his airplane
The people ran, but they ran in vain
He was leaving them all behind
They all said he would save mankind
Later, down by the park
He could hear the calling of the lark
And the piano that he had used to play
Was put aside, out of the way
The television flickered
The man in jail snickered
He had finally put him out of the way
No one knew just how to say it
The music had already been made, and all the candles had been lit

A long, long time ago
We were still young, and we were full of romance
We would always walk down to the park
The sun would be setting; it would soon be getting dark
They used to tell tales about the man that used to live there
The one who played piano and liked to grow his hair
They say he was the only one of his kind
Others liked to say that he was out of his mind
All the people still were kissing
But something essential was missing
There was no music on the forty-fourth floor
I asked the door-man, he said he don’t live here no more
So we walked away, and it started to rain
And on the sidewalk, there was a stain
They say it’s from a long, long time ago
No one knows just what it is