FOUND IT!

I had the first line not quite right, but when I remembered it correctly I found it!

Roger Whittaker wrote and sang it. Guess it was his album I had. I think it included 'The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald' and that's why I had Gordon Lightfoot in mind. https://youtu.be/qsm2Lt21J7E

The First Hello, the Last Goodbye

… They say when you gain a lover

You begin to lose a friend

That the end of the beginning's

The beginning of the end

They say the moment that you're born

Is when you start to die

And the first time that we said hello

Began our last goodbye

… We know each summer's coming

Means the winter's waiting there

And gold would not be precious

If we all had gold to spare

You only know how low is low

The first time that you fly

And the first time that we said hello

Began our last goodbye

… If I could live forever

It is certain I would never know

Another single second so sublime

At the moment of our meeting

When our hands first touched in greeting

How I wanted to hold back the hands of time

… When they begin the overture

They start to end the show

When you think I'll never need you

Then I knew that you would go

The sound of all our laughter

Is now echoed in a sigh

And the first time that we said hello

Began our last goodbye

… If I could live forever

It's certain I would never know

Another single second so sublime

At the moment of our meeting

When our hands first touched in greeting

How I wanted to hold back the hands of time, oh yes

… When they begin the overture

They start to end the show

When you think I'll never need you

Then I knew that you would go

The sound of all our laughter

Is now echoed in a sigh

And the first time that we said hello

Began our last goodbye

And the first time that we said hello

Began our last goodbye