Another poem by my mother, Helen Childs deLespinasse

This was published in the "P.E.O. Record" December 1966 issue.  I don't know when she actually wrote it, but by 1966 my brother Hank and I had not been "small boys" for a long time!  

GROWING PAINS

The stockings by the fireplace grow longer every year,
and as I watch those stockings grow my heart is filled with fear.
For soon the time will come,  I know . . .
when boys and stockings cease to grow.

Basketballs, footballs, kites and trains, wagons, and story books
are soon outgrown and in their place are rods and reels and hooks.
When toys no more adorn the tree . . . 
Christmas will rather dreary be.

The day will lose its gaiety when sox and razor blades and ties
replace the guns and horns and drums and things that small boys prize.
It will be very quiet then . . . 
on Christmas when our boys are men.

I'll print a picture in my heart of laden tree and fireplace,
of stockings hung  before the fire and smiles on boyish face.
And in my heart I'll hoard the laughter . . .
for quiet years that follow after.