Poem: “A Wish” by Edgar A. Guest

A Heap o’ Livin’

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American Literature – American Poetry – Edgar A. Guest – Poems by Edgar A. Guest – A Heap o’ Livin’
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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 boyhood
      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.

< < < My Creed
What A Baby Costs > > >

American Literature – American Poetry – Edgar A. Guest – Poems by Edgar A. Guest – A Heap o’ Livin’

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