A Boy's Reverie Over An Old Picture

WHAT shall I be?
          I'd like to be a soldier, strong and tall,
Like Grandpapa, drawn in the picture here;
And be the first to hear the trumpet's call,
And be the first to scale the castle wall.
          But then, you see,
The worst of it is this, Mamma, poor dear —
Just because these brave fighters sometimes fall,—
Won't hear about this soldiering at all!
          Papa's a clergyman,
And nobody's one-half as good as he,
Nor ever was, I think, since time began;
No, and I don't believe will ever be:
          I know Mamma thinks so;
And that's the reason partly, I dare say,
She hopes with all her heart her boy some day
Will lead good people in his father's way.
          And when I tell her 'No,
I want to be a soldier of the Queen,'
She says (and dear old Auntie just the same)
'That there's a soldier's service nobler far,
With surer triumph and a grander fame,
Than any fighting in an earthly war;
Great battles that no eye has ever seen
'Gainst foes more fierce than ever men have been;
And that a clergyman does wear a sword
As captain in the armies of the Lord.'

  I think I know what she and Auntie mean,
And like to hear them tell of it; but still
I should so like a sword that I can see,
Like Grandpapa's, and wield it in my hand,
Just as he's painted here upon the hill,
While all the soldiers charge at his command;
That's just how I should like to look, so grand!

  Oh, dear, oh, dear, I don't know what to do!
I shouldn't worry, if I only knew;
But now it's quite a burden on my mind,
Because in both directions I'm inclined.
I'd like to be a good man, like Papa,
And, best of all, it would so please Mamma,
But then, I want to fight like Grandpapa.
          I'm in a regular fix:
Nurse says that I must wait, I'm only six,
And this time ten years will be time enough
To make a fuss about what I shall be.
I don't care what she says, because, you see,
Every one knows old women talk such stuff.

  There! I declare she's calling me again.
The cross old thing! — hark at her overhead:
'Come, Master Johnnie, time you were asleep!'
          One thing is very plain,
When I'm a man (oh, how the time does creep!
I wish it could be done as soon as said!)
Unless I choose, I'll never go to bed!