I used to lie upon the ground
And look up at the sky,
Before the vast eternal blue
The clouds moved swiftly by.
Mine was a mind of childhood years
Not formed nor set by fact
So, fairies, gnomes and elfish forms
Paraded back to back.
I left the ground to fly aloft
And sail celestial seas,
I plucked the down of angels' wings
And floated o'er the trees.
There was no mooring to my mind
It left me full and free
And ranged the fullest ecstasies
That dreams afforded me.
But now I've stretched to my full height
I am a lad no more,
I know the drama of the world
And its companion score.
But still I lie upon my back
And look up at the sky,
And forms and fancies yet appear
To my still dreaming eye.
And now when I return to earth
And its reality
I find there clutched in my tight fist
Fine threads I cannot see.
THese threads become a tapestry
I weave from off my heart,
And I can tell of mysteries
That earth would not impart.