I wish I was a child again,

Then I could fly like Superman

Or I could kill a thousand Huns,

Or capture tigers without guns.

I wish I was a child again,

Climbing walls and pinching apples,

And ringing bells and running off,

And hurling bricks in the old stone trough.

I wish I was a child again,

Enjoying milk and eating cake,

And spending sixpence in the shop,

And draining bottles of their last drop.

I wish I was a child again,

With tousled hair and bike-scraped knees,

And trousers never meant to fit

A boy who never learnt to sit.

I wish I was a child again,

Then I could play most every day,

With my gradchild, who, without fail,

Draws back with ease the memory’s veil.

I wish I was a child again.