When I Was A Boy

Up in the attic where I slept     When I was a boy, a little boy,     In through the lattice the moonlight crept,     Bringing a tide of dreams that swept     Over the low, red trundle-bed,     Bathing the tangled curly head,     While moonbeams played at hide-and-seek     With the dimples on the sun-browned cheek -     When I was a boy, a little boy!     And, oh! the dreams - the dreams I dreamed!     When I was a boy, a little boy!     For the grace that through the lattice streamed     Over my folded eyelids seemed     To have the gift of prophecy,     And to bring me glimpses of times to be     When manhood's clarion seemed to call -     Ah! that was the sweetest dream of all,     When I was a boy, a little boy!     I'd like to sleep where I used to sleep     When I was a boy, a little boy!     For in at the lattice the moon would peep,     Bringing her tide of dreams to sweep     The crosses and griefs of the years away     From the heart that is weary and faint to-day;     And those dreams should give me back again     A peace I have never known since then -     When I was a boy, a little boy!