The Prairie Child

By Martha Freeman

When I was a child the prairie to me

Was a beautiful, shining, pea green sea

And I lay on a log in the shade of a tree,
And I dreamed of the far off places to see

My log was a raft, and I sailed away

Over that shimmering, shining sea
India, Africa, Pakistan
The Tropic Isles,

The Isle of Man

I travelled to Britain, Paris too
Then across the Pacific, so brightly blue

I travelled afar

I travelled wide

No longer a lonely prairie child

But a girl of the world, on a pea green sea

Seeing the world with a heart full of glee

I’m older now- wiser too

But there’s just one thing I would like to do

Go back to that glistening, glimmering sea

And go sailing away with that young girl me

With the stars in her eyes

From the dreams she had dreamed

And the world was all that it really seemed

But that was yesterday- today is now

And you can’t go back- not ever somehow

So I’ll cherish that girl and her pea green sea

To remind me of days when life was free


©Martha Freeman 1970