The Bellefontaine Republican

And It's off for the Land of Bye-Bye
Astride on papa's knee,
With two big hands for the stirrups
And two little lips for the bit.
And now we are off at a gallop
Thro' meadows and valley and wood,
For a visit to Peter Piper
And little Red Riding Hood.
And maybe we'll stop at the fairies
Down there in the hazel dell;
For where Pipe Horsey will take us
The hobby himself can't tell.
And maybe we'll call on Miss Muffet;
And maybe and maybe we'll come
To where one little pig went to market
And one little piggie stayed home.
But this I know, that so surely
As the littlest piggie could talk,
So surely we'll nod in the saddle
And the gallop will come to a walk
And then we will be at the stable
And tenderly Horsey will stand
While mamma lovingly leads us
To the dream-decked Lullaby Land.
Oh, rapturous, radiant glamour
That aureoles vanished hours;
Ah, rest for the heart that is weary
And memories sweet as flowers
Back there in the Land of Bye-Bye,
Where the romping fancies roam;
Where one little pig went to market
And one little piggie stayed home.
I travel the big world over.
But none of the scenes I see
Is like to the wondrous places
Where I went on papa's knee.
I want to give all of my journeys
In the wide, wide world of men
For one hour of that dear dead childhood—
I want to go Bye-Bye again!

-Maurice Smiley, in Collier's Weekly.