The Child-Heart

Oh, little one, listen to my tale
and enjoy your time in the sand, playing with your shovel and pail
making imaginary castles and speaking your mind
Being so innocent, there isn’t many left of your kind
I knew a man once, who found this thing called a Child-Heart
Its what makes you happy and content, a most important body part.
‘Its inside you,’ he would say, ‘But it can go to sleep if you grow up too fast
Take your time and just be you, so you’ll never have to regret the past.
Listen to the Man in the Moon and don’t lose faith in things unseen
Those mystical palaces and unicorns, those places where the grass is greener than green
Where there are princes on every corner, where you can rule the earth
And come home every night to a warm peasant’s hearth
Where nothing really needs to make sense, as long as you like it
A place that can be filled with music, or still and quiet.’
Then the man would touch the child on the shoulder and cry
‘Blessed child,’ he would say, ‘to grow up is to die
But hold onto that which is inside you and you’ll live in a world apart
Listen to me, and don’t ever lose your Child-Heart.’