Poetry Friday: Tugging at Heart Strings

With the exception of a few years after college, I've been going back to school every September since I was 4-years old. My day job teaching is a huge part of my writing life. I find inspiration in my classroom every single day. Teaching also keeps my own experiences as a student as fresh as if they happened just yesterday. 

We've talked in the past about poems we memorized as children that are still with us. One of my favorites is Little Boy Blue by Eugene Fields. To this day, I get a bit verklempt (a word I didn't know in 5th grade when I learned the poem) when I read it. 


Little Boy Blue by Eugene Fields


The little toy dog is covered with dust,
   But sturdy and stanch he stands;
And the little toy soldier is red with rust,
   And his musket moulds in his hands.
Time was when the little toy dog was new,
   And the soldier was passing fair;
And that was the time when our Little Boy Blue
   Kissed them and put them there.
"Now, don't you go till I come," he said,
   "And don't you make any noise!"
So, toddling off to his trundle-bed,
   He dreamt of the pretty toys;
And, as he was dreaming, an angel song
   Awakened our Little Boy Blue---
Oh! the years are many, the years are long,
   But the little toy friends are true!
Ay, faithful to Little Boy Blue they stand,
   Each in the same old place---
Awaiting the touch of a little hand,
   The smile of a little face;
And they wonder, as waiting the long years through
   In the dust of that little chair,
What has become of our Little Boy Blue,
   Since he kissed them and put them there.