Song Of Being A Child Chords by Van Morrison

_ _ _ [C] _ _ _
_ _ _ [G] _ _ _
_ _ _ [C] _ _ _
_ _ _ [G] _ _ _
_ When the child was [C] a child, it walked with arms hanging,
[G] wanted the stream to be a river and the river a [C] torrent,
and this puddle, the sea.
[G] When the child was a child, it didn't know it was a [C] child. _
Everything for it was [G] filled with life and all life was one.
Saw the [C] horizon without trying to reach it, couldn't rush [G] itself,
and think on command, was often terribly [C] bored,
and couldn't wait, passed up greeting the [G] moments,
and prayed only with its lips.
When the child [C] was a child, it didn't have an opinion about a [G] thing,
had no habits, often sat cross [C]-legged, took off running,
had a carlick in its hair, [G] and didn't put on a face when photographed.
_ [C] _
_ _ _ _ _ [G] _
_ _ _ _ _ [C] _
When the child was a child, [G] it was the time of the following questions.
Why am I me [C] and why not you?
Why am I here and why not [G] there?
Why did time [A] begin and where does space end?
[C] Isn't what I see and hear and smell
just the [G] appearance of the world in front of the world?
Isn't life under [C] the sun just a dream?
Does evil actually exist [G] in people who really are evil?
Why can't it be [C] that I who am wasn't before I [G] was,
and that sometime I, the I I am,
[C] no longer will be the I I am?
_ [G] _
_ _ _ _ _ [C] _
_ _ _ _ _ [G] _
_ _ _ _ _ [C]
When the child was a child, it gagged [G] on spinach, on peas, on rice pudding,
and on [C] steamed cauliflower,
and now eats all of it, and not just [G] because it has to.
When the child was a child, it woke [C] up once in a strange bed,
and now time and time [G] again, many people seem beautiful to it,
and [C] now not so many, and now only if it's lucky.
[G] It had a precise picture of paradise,
and [C] now can only vaguely conceive of it at best.
[G] It couldn't imagine nothingness,
and today shudders [C] in the face of it.
Dough for the ball, which [G] today rolls between its legs,
with its I'm here, [C] it came into the house which now is empty.
[G] When the child was a child, it played with [C] enthusiasm,
and not only with such former [G] concentration,
where its work is concerned,
when the game, [C] task, activity, subject happens to be its [G] work.
_ _ _ _ _ [C] _
_ _ _ _ _ [G] _
_ _ _ _ _ [C]
When the child was a child, it was enough [G] to live on apples and bread,
and it's still that way.
When [C] the child was a child, berries fell,
only like [G] berries into its hand, and still do.
The [C] fresh walnuts made its tongue rot, and still [G] do.
Atop each mountain it craved, yet a higher [C] mountain,
and in each city it craved, yet a [G] bigger city, and still does.
Reaped for the cherries in [C] the treetop, as elated as it still is today,
[G] was shy in front of strangers, and still is.
It [C] waited for the first snow, and still waits that way.
When [G] the child was a child, it waited restlessly each [C] day
for the return of the loved one, and [G] still waits that way.
When the child was a child, it hurled a stick [C] like a lance into a tree,
and it's still quivering there [G] today.
When the child _ _ _
[C] _ was a child,
when the child was a [G] child,
when the child was a child,
_ [C] when the child was a child,
_ _ _ [G] _
_ when the child was a child,
when the child [C] _ _ _ was [G] a child,
child, child, [C] _
child,
_ _ _ [G] _
_ _ _ _ _ [C] _
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_ _ _ [C] _ and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on
when the child _ _ [G] was a child,
was a child,
[C] was a child,
was a child,
was [G] a child,
was a child,
was a child,
[C] was a child,
was a child,
[G] was a child,
was a child,
was a child,
[C] was a child,
was a child,
was a [G] child. _ _ _
_ _ [C] _ _ _ _
_ _ [G] _ _ _ _
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