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The Boy's Dream
A Ballad
A youth looked into the running stream,
And he sighed to be as free;
That he might visit the city's mart,
And come to the boundless sea.
And he sighed to be as free;
That he might visit the city's mart,
And come to the boundless sea.
And on its waters swift be borne
To countries distant, and strange;
Which he read of in books, or heard men tell,
And over the world to range.
To countries distant, and strange;
Which he read of in books, or heard men tell,
And over the world to range.
47
Then he sought for a ship, and left his home,
And mother and father dear;
And he roamed the wide world from land to land,
And was gone for many a year.
And mother and father dear;
And he roamed the wide world from land to land,
And was gone for many a year.
He sailed where the reefs of coral grow,
He sailed by the ice-bergs cold,
He saw the wonders of every clime,
And rich was his ship with gold.
He sailed by the ice-bergs cold,
He saw the wonders of every clime,
And rich was his ship with gold.
But no place he found, that was so dear,
As that he had left behind;
And a weary life he seemed to lead,
The sport of the waves and wind.
As that he had left behind;
And a weary life he seemed to lead,
The sport of the waves and wind.
He gazed around on the lonely deep,
And his heart grew sick, to see
How it stretched forever on, and on,
And shoreless seemed to be.
And his heart grew sick, to see
How it stretched forever on, and on,
And shoreless seemed to be.
And his thoughts flew back to those early days;
To his home by the river's side;
And his father and mother he there had left,
To roam the ocean wide.
To his home by the river's side;
And his father and mother he there had left,
To roam the ocean wide.
It seemed far better to live as they,
And see but the sights they saw;
Than roam as a sailor from land to land,
Without a home, or law.
And see but the sights they saw;
Than roam as a sailor from land to land,
Without a home, or law.
And his mind was changed; he left his ship,
And swift sought the pleasant stream;
Where he left his parents to mourn his loss,
And followed his boyhood's dream.
And swift sought the pleasant stream;
Where he left his parents to mourn his loss,
And followed his boyhood's dream.
Poem No. 24; 1834–36?
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