James McMurtry

Childish Things

Aunt Clara kept her bible right next to the phone

In case she needed a quote while she talked to someone

In my memory she smiles while the blessings said

And visions of freeze tag dance in my head

She says I'll grow up big if I eat all my roast

That I'll still believe in heaven but I won't believe in ghosts anymore

I'll put away childish things, I'll put away childish things

Every other weekend, age of thirteen

With my fishing pole and my feelings string

Riding back home on the Trailways bus

I looked out the window till I saw too much

And I called my parents by their own first names

I played in the alley but I didn't play the game anymore

I put away childish things, I put away childish things

The wolves howl all night long

They won't stop and they won't go home

Beneath my window they run

Probably it'll be alright

If I keep it all locked up tight

And wait till daylight comes

Now my boy goes like a house on fire

He'll never burn out and he'll never retire

And I remember when I used to think like that

When I was young and the world was flat

But I'm forty some years old now and man I don't care

All I won't now is just a comfortable chair

And to sell all my stock and live on the coast

I don't believe in heaven but I still believe in ghosts