When I was a boy I thought money grew on trees I thought my mother could do everything cook dinner for six children buy me all the toys I wanted and do my homework which she would not When I was a boy I thought my teacher as my father I thought he would tuck me in at night take me to the ball games answer all my silly questions and buy me all the banana splits I could eat When I was a boy I thought as a boy A five block radius in North Philly was my world I walked home from school for lunch played with my brothers and sisters during the summers and sat on the stump until 9pm Go over Aunt Dorothy's for family gatherings Next door neighbor lived alone and gave us loose chain to buy candy and potato chips I saw white people when my mother would take us downtown to buy clothes for back to school When I was a boy I thought as a boy One time we put a stray dog in crate and threw it down the basement of an abandoned house We would later return to see if the dog had died but it did not When I was a boy I was afraid to die and prayed to god that I would live to age 95 When I was a boy I thought I was a man but men do not do foolish things I think of the boys in my life who think that they are men but boys do not do foolish things