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