I was twenty-one years when I wrote this song.
I'm twenty-two now but I won't be for long
Time hurries on.
And the leaves that are green turn to brown,
And they wither with the wind,
And they crumble in your hand.
Once my heart was filled with the love of a girl.
I held her close, but she faded in the night
Like a poem I meant to write.
And the leaves that are green turn to brown,
And they wither with the wind,
And they crumble in your hand.
I threw a pebble in a brook
And watched the ripples run away
And they never made a sound.
And the leaves that are green turned to brown,
And they wither with the wind,
And they crumble in your hand.
Hello, Hello, Hello, Good-bye,
Good-bye, Good-bye, Good-bye,
That's all there is.
And the leaves that are green turned to brown,
And they wither with the wind,
And they crumble in your hand.
Comentarios: En algunas entrevistas, Simon ha comentado que cuando era joven le gustaba escribir sobre la fugacidad de la vida, a pesar de que aún no tenía mucha experiencia con el envejecimiento. La canción refleja esa melancolía juvenil con líneas como "And the leaves that are green turn to brown", resaltando lo efímero de todo.
Su temática seguira resonando en su obra posterior, donde el paso del tiempo y la reflexión sobre la vida son temas recurrentes.