Song Of Being A Child Lyrics - The Philosopher's Stone - Van Morrison

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 itself and think on command 

Was often terribly bored and couldn't wait 

Passed up greeting the moments 

And prayed only with its lips 

When the child was a child 

It didn't have an opinion about a thing, had no habits 

Often sat crossed legged, took off running 

Had a cow lick in its hair and didn't put on a face when photographed 

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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 its legs 

With its 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 its work is concerned 

When the game, task, activity, subject happens to be its 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 its hand and still do 

The fresh walnuts made its 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 waits that way 

When the child was a child 

It waited restlessly each day for the return of the loved one 

And still waits 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 

And on and on and on and on 

And on and on and on and on 

And onward with a sense of wonder 

Upon the highest hill, upon the highest hill 

When the child was a child, are you there, shss, shss 

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 

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