James McMurtry Follow

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 field and stream
Riding back home on the trail ways 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

I've put away childish things, I've put away childish things
I've put away childish things, I've 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
If I wait till daylight comes