Childhood Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

There was a time when I was very small,
       &nbsp When my whole frame was but an ell in height;
Sweetly, as I recall it, tears do fall,
       &nbsp And therefore I recall it with delight.

I sported in my tender mother's arms,
       &nbsp And rode a-horseback on best father's knee;
Alike were sorrows, passions and alarms,
       &nbsp And gold, and Greek, and love, unknown to me,

Then seemed to me this world far less in size,
       &nbsp Likewise it seemed to me less wicked far;
Like points in heaven, I saw the stars arise,
       &nbsp And longed for wings that I might catch a star.

I saw the moon behind the island fade,
       &nbsp And thought, "Oh, were I on that island there,
I could find out of what the moon is made,
       &nbsp Find out how large it is, how round, how fair!"

Wondering, I saw God's sun, through western skies,
       &nbsp Sink in the ocean's golden lap at night,
And yet upon the morrow early rise,
       &nbsp And paint the eastern heaven with crimson light;

And thought of God, the gracious Heavenly Father,
       &nbsp Who made me, and that lovely sun on high,
And all those pearls of heaven thick-strung together,
       &nbsp Dropped, clustering, from his hand o'er all the sky.