I Wish I Was Again a Child

I Wish I Was Again a Child

I wish I was again a child,

To gambol on my native sward,

To roam amid the woodly wild,

And climb the jutting rocks so hard.

How swift the winged moments then!

How light of heart when school was o'er,

I shelved the satchel, book and pen,

The bosky woodlands to explore.

I little dreamt in rosy youth,

That clouds of care and webs of guile

Would dim my sky and wrap the truth,

And men decive e'en when they smile.

A golden age, methought, was come,

When truth was read in every face—

That earth was one large, happy home,

Where knavery found no lurking-place.

I wish I was again a child,

To rove with little playmates fair—

To hear my mother's voice so mild,

When teaching me my childhood prayer.

Ah! me how sweet 'twas then to roam,

With that pure joy and deep delight,

With fragrant flowers I hastened home

When Hesperus proclaimed the night.

O, happy days! to me it seemed

As if a sun of purest joy

Lit up my father's face, and beamed

Upon his "little laughing boy."

My mother's smile was light and life,

And chased the tear-drops from mine eye;

And now, amid the world's wild strife,

She's Hope's bright star in my sad sky.

I wish I was a child again—

Ah! no; 'tis well that I should feel

The world's dark frown as other men—

That time its secrets may reveal.

'Tis right that boyhood's sunny day

Should die like dreams at morning light—

Should as the snow-fall melt away,

And vanish as the rainbow bright.

My scattered hairs and vaulted heart

Tell many a tale that loads my breast;

And day by day old friends depart

To where the weary ones find rest.

'Tis well our dreams of youth should pass,

Like airy bubbles on the blast;

Should, like the dew-drops on the grass.

Delight awhile, then all go past.

Wm. C . Cameron

1:3, p. 1

8.6.1859