A Wish

I'd like to be a boy again, a care-free prince of
    joy again,
  I'd like to tread the hills and dales the way I
    used to do;
I'd like the tattered shirt again, the knickers
    thick with dirt again,
  The ugly, dusty feet again that long ago I
    knew.
I'd like to play first base again, and Sliver's
    curves to face again,
  I'd like to climb, the way I did, a friendly
    apple tree;
For, knowing what I do to-day, could I but
    wander back and play,
  I'd get full measure of the joy that boy-
    hood gave to me.

I'd like to be a lad again, a youngster, wild and
    glad again,
  I'd like to sleep and eat again the way I used
    to do;
I'd like to race and run again, and drain from
    life its fun again,
  And start another round of joy the moment
    one was through.
But care and strife have come to me, and often
    days are glum to me,
  And sleep is not the thing it was and food
    is not the same;
And I have sighed, and known that I must
    journey on again to sigh,
  And I have stood at envy's point and heard
    the voice of shame.

I've learned that joys are fleeting things; that
    parting pain each meeting brings;
  That gain and loss are partners here, and so
    are smiles and tears;
That only boys from day to day can drain and
    fill the cup of play;
  That age must mourn for what is lost
    throughout the coming years.
But boys cannot appreciate their priceless joy
    until too late
  And those who own the charms I had will
    soon be changed to men;
And then, they too will sit, as I, and backward
    turn to look and sigh
  And share my longing, vain, to be a care-
    free boy again.