Child in the Orchard

A little child just passing through
Running through the walled apple trees
Happy and joyful among the slopping filed

What has become of you?
Where are you and what are you doing?
Now that you must be grown

Still wearing red wellies and running free?
Usually that field is empty
Only once I saw a child, same as me

Were you real or just a dream?
A child the same as me

I wished I could have played with you
Seeming free and happy
Like an eternal joy
Shinning on, ahead to adventure

But then we had to grow

I move away away from sweet Gloucestershire
Though when I pass through it,
I still look to that field
With the crumbled old walled orchard

But never again have I seen that child
Playing and running free
Running with hands outstretched
Happily through the apple trees