If I Were a Child

If I were a child, with fifteen cents,

Do you know what I would do?

I'd buy me a jaunty aeroplane

With silver wings and blue.

I would point its nose to the distant sky;

On a beam that tracks a star,

And I'd take you with me if you'd go,

Or I'd leave you where you are.

You would have to dream the dreams I dream

And know the faith I know,

Else you'd go hurtling down and down

To a million miles below.

Then you'd be here in a burdened world,

While very far and high

I'd witness all the pagentry

Of heaven going by.

 

We could make it there and back, you know. . .

Barring the consequence

Of taking off in an aeroplane

We bought for fifteen cents.

(First published in Along the Lane: Dedicated to the memory of Thomas William Larsen, who lost his life in World War II)