When I was a young boy many decades ago <br />I thought babies like flowers in the gardens did grow <br />That's what I was told and what I did believe <br />Children have their innocence and are not hard to deceive. <br /> <br />I yearn for the innocence that I had then <br />Something that I lost in the World of men <br />Lost innocence we cannot hope to regain <br />Though fond memories of childhood we always retain. <br /> <br />When I was a young boy with joy I recall <br />The great tits young in the dark cavity in the stone wall <br />I did hear them chirp though them I could not see <br />The mysteries of Nature a wonder to me. <br /> <br />The winter was cold with frost wind rain and snow <br />And the river bank high in the old fields did flow <br />But Spring brought her birdsong her wildflowers and green <br />And Nature's great beauty for all to be seen. <br /> <br />My innocence died like the flowers of the Spring <br />But memories of lost youth a beautiful thing <br />The passing of time has left me looking gray <br />And a different World I live in today.<br /><br />Francis Duggan<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/memories-of-lost-youth/
