BAR HARBOR – Anyone who thinks that childhood is a simple, idyllic time has a short memory.

Both richness and a dark beauty can be found in its true complexities, according to local composer and music director Tom Wallace, who mined an unsugar-coated version of childhood for the cycle of songs he recently composed for the Eden Children’s Chorus and Ensemble.

Lyrics for the nine songs in “All of Our Dreams” are taken from poets who did not whitewash the reality of childhood, including William Shakespeare, Christina Rossetti and David Budville.

And the kids of the chorus’ smaller ensemble, who enthusiastically rehearsed the songs Wednesday evening at Gates Auditorium at the College of the Atlantic, seemed to instinctively get it.

The close-knit group of 10- to 13-year-olds laughed and goofed around between songs, but when the music started, they jumped to attentiveness.

“He shook him hard from side to side and hit him till it hurt,” they intoned sweetly but with an unmistakable bloodthirsty relish as they followed Wallace’s direction.

The tapestry of four-part harmonies they wove filled the auditorium in a counterpoint to the casual cruelty of the lyrics, which came from Hilaire Belloc’s poem “Franklin Hyde, Who caroused in Dirt and was corrected by his Uncle,” a cautionary tale about children breaking the rules.

“Kids can deal with a lot of intense stuff, and adults keep kids safe and kids never get a chance to feel their own power in the world,” Wallace said. “Sometimes we do silly things, but even those, I want them to have some substance.”

Some themes of the other songs include dreams, change, trust, faith and growing up.

“They’ve really, really responded beautifully to this stuff,” the director said. “It was gratifying to me to have them respond so strongly.”

Singer Anna Sproule of Trenton, 13, said she appreciated both the irony and the music of the cycle’s songs.

“I like it because it’s more challenging,” she said.

Abigail Curless of Southwest Harbor, mother of singers Audyn, 10, and Opal, 7, said that she was excited about the project.

“That’s beautiful music,” she said. “It’s deep, it’s rich, it’s meaningful, it’s poetic. It’s different than what you expect kids to be singing.”

For Wallace, finding lyrics that reflect the world’s reality is an important part of the process of composing.

“These kids have to live with this stuff for 12 weeks,” he said. “I want them to have a relationship with the music that means something to them.”

“All of Our Dreams” will premiere at the Eden Children’s Chorus and Ensemble’s Winter Concert at 3 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 11, at Gates Auditorium. A four-song preview can be heard at the Acadia Choral Society’s concerts at 7 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 3 and at 3 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 4, at St. Saviour’s Episcopal Church in Bar Harbor.