Love Songs of Childhood by Eugene Field - HTML preview

THE BROOK

      I looked in the brook and saw a face—

      Heigh-ho, but a child was I!

      There were rushes and willows in that place,

      And they clutched at the brook as the brook ran by;

      And the brook it ran its own sweet way,

      As a child doth run in heedless play,

      And as it ran I heard it say:

      "Hasten with me

      To the roistering sea

      That is wroth with the flame of the morning sky!"

      I look in the brook and see a face—

      Heigh-ho, but the years go by!

      The rushes are dead in the old-time place,

      And the willows I knew when a child was I.

      And the brook it seemeth to me to say,

      As ever it stealeth on its way—

      Solemnly now, and not in play:

      "Oh, come with me

      To the slumbrous sea

      That is gray with the peace of the evening sky!"

      Heigh-ho, but the years go by—

      I would to God that a child were I!