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 it's 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 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 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, etc. And onward
   With a sense of wonder
   Upon the highest hill. Upon the highest hill
   When the child was a child
   Are you there
   Shassas, shassas
   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