Dedicated to all those children who didn't survive
but sturdy and staunch he stands
The little toy soldier is red with rust
and his musket molds 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 back," he said,
"and don't you make any noise."
So, toddling off to his trundle bed
He dreamt of his pretty toys.
And, while he was dreaming an angel's song
awakened our little boy blue.
Oh, the years are many, the years are long
but out little toy friends are true.
Aye, faithful to the little boy blue they stand,
each in their same old place.
Awaiting the touch of the little hand,
the smile of the little face.
And they wonder as waiting these 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.
----- Eugene Field, 1872
An excerpt from "Silenced Angels, The Medical, Legal and Social Aspects of Shaken Baby Syndrome" by James R. Peinkofer
