Van Morrison - Song of Being a Child lyrics

When the child was a child
It walked with arms hanging
Wanted the stream to be a river
And the river a torrent
And this puddle, the sea
When the child was a child, it didn't know
It was a child
Everything for it was filled with life
And all life was one
Saw the horizon without trying to reach it
Couldn't rush it'self and think on command
Was often terribly bored and couldn't wait
Passed up greeting the moments
And prayed only with it's lips
When the child was a child
It didn't have an opinion about a thing
Had no habit's
Often sat crossed legged, took off running
Had a cow lick in it's hair
And didn't put on a face when photographed
When the child was a child
It was the time of the following questions
Why am I me and why not you
Why am I here and why not there
Why did time begin and where does space end
Isn't what I see and hear and smell
Just the appearance of the world
In front of the world
Isn't life under the sun just a dream
Does evil actually exist in people
Who really are evil
Why can't it be that I who am
Wasn't before I was
And that sometime I, the I, I am
No longer will be the I, I am

When the child was a child
It gagged on spinach, on peas
On rice pudding and on steamed cauliflower
And now eats all of it and
Not just because it has to
When the child was a child
It woke up once in a strange bed
And now time and time again
Many people seem beautiful to it
And now not so many and
Now only if it's lucky
It had a precise picture of paradise
And now can only vaguely conceive
Of it at best
It couldn't imagine nothingness
And today shudders in the face of it
Go for the ball
Which today rolls between it's legs
With it's I'm here it came
Into the house which now is empty

When the child was a child
It played with enthusiasm
And now only with such former concentration
Where it's work is concerned
When the game, task, activity
Subject happens to be it's work

When the child was a child
It was enough to live on apples and bread
And it's still that way
When the child was a child berries fell
Only like berries into it's hand
And still do
The fresh walnuts made it's tongue raw
And still do atop each mountain it craved
Yet a higher mountain
And in each city it craved yet a bigger city
And still does
Reach for the cherries in the treetop
As elated as it still is today
Was shy in front of strangers and still is
It waited for the first snow
And still wait's that way
When the child was a child
It waited restlessly each day for the
Return of the loved one
And still wait's that way
When the child was a child
It hurled a stick like a lance into a tree
And it's still quivering there today
The child, the child was a child
Was a child, was a child, was a child
Was a child child, child, child
When the child, when the child
When the child
When the child, when the child
The child, child, child, child, child

And on and on and on and on
With a sense of wonder
Upon the highest hill upon the highest hill
When the child was a child are you there
Shhh, Shhhh up on a highest hill
When the child was a child, was a child
Was a child
Was a child, was a child, was a child
Was a child