it walked with its arms swinging

Song of Childhood
By Peter Handke

When the child was a child
It walked with its arms swinging,
wanted the brook to be a river,
the river to be a torrent,
and this puddle to be the sea.

(read the whole poem here)

This poem is recited in one of my all-time favorite movies, Wim Wender’s Wings of Desire.  Bittersweet and beautiful.