Kid Without a Cent

No sadder stare does anywhere Life’s Tragedy present
Than that before a candy store of kid without a cent;
The hunger and the yearning and the pathos of that stare
Tug at one’s heart and make one start the same sad mood to share.

When such I see there comes to me a dream I cherish which
I’d make come true could I accrue the wealth to make me rich;
A dream which may some blessed day through miracle come true
And which I feel I should reveal and share, perhaps, with you.

Where Big Rock Candy Mountains slowly melt beneath the sun
And from great Soda Fountains flavors spurt to downward run
A Peppermint Stick cabin I would build, all bright and gay,
Stocked full of Penny Candies, all of which to give away.

There behind rock candy windows for the poor of the earth to see
Would be every sort of candy which upon this earth may be,
Yet within that striped cabin never coin might be spent,
I would call it “Little Heaven for the Kid Without a Cent,”