When We Were Nineteen

When we were nineteen
We made the right mistakes
Rather than the wrong mistakes
You make when it's too late to make them

We used to use bungee cords
To pull ourselves back
Into reality

We ballroom dance around each other
Mentioning each other's taboo topics
And wondering if we're pushing
The right buttons

This one is red
This one is rare
This one is too soon, too much
Too fast

And everyone's bright
And everyone's quick
And everyone's got their own ideas

When we were nineteen
We were so mean to each other
For absolutely no reason
And our skins could weather the storms

We'd break up our thoughts
And break up our minds
And break up each other every night
Just to keep our dreams intact

First we'd start a fight
Then we'd start to screw
And pretty soon we were screwing up
Everything

Nothing
Could break
Nothing
Could hurt
Nothing
Could make us change our minds

We were sixteen
We were thirty-three
We were a hundred
And twelve and nine

Santa was real
And bills weren't real
Reality tv wasn't real
And our parents weren't real
But music was real
And stray dogs were real
And jobs weren't real
But being broke was real

We used to go to the mall
And play tag with each other

We used to go roam the East Side
Like tourists in our own hometown

We used to hold hands just 'cause we were friends
And lay next to each other
And be there for each other
And not care about where
The next meal was coming from

When we were nineteen
We didn't know fatigue
We didn't know deceit
We didn't know enough to be cynical

And now we're not nineteen
We're all sorts of not nineteen

And when we dance we crash into ourselves

We like the finer things
That nineteen couldn't bring

And we look back we say
'I don't remember'

Why don't we remember
Why don't we remember nineteen?