Pikes' Peaks' Philosophic Burro                           Winter in Colorado                      Death of the Cow-Boy                     Atmospheric Deception While his comic Colorado verses remain popular with local readers, Eugene Field is most remembered outside Colorado for a heart-felt poem about the death of his son, "Little Boy Blue."  Eugene Field died young himself, forty-five years old, in Chicago, in 1895.  He lived in Denver in the early 1880s.

Vintage Colorado Poetry Poem of the Week November 27, 2006

Little Boy Blue Eugene Field

The little toy dog is covered with dust,         But sturdy and stanch he stands; And the little toy soldier is red with rust,         And his musket moulds in his hands. Time was when the little toy dog was new,         And the soldier was passing fair; And that was the time when our Little Boy Blue         Kissed them and put them there. "Now, don't you go till I come," he said,         "And don't you make any noise!" So, toddling off to his trundle-bed,         He dreamt of the pretty toys; And, as he was dreaming, an angel song         Awakened our Little Boy Blue--- Oh! the years are many, the years are long,         But the little toy friends are true! Ay, faithful to Little Boy Blue they stand,         Each in the same old place--- Awaiting the touch of a little hand,         The smile of a little face; And they wonder, as waiting the long years through         In the dust of that little chair, What has become of our Little Boy Blue,         Since he kissed them and put them there.

Vintage Colorado Poetry

Home Archives I Archives II Previous Poem of the Week