HOME-SICKNESS. HERE I am, the halls are gilded, Strains of deep melodious music Float upon the perfumed air: Nothing stirs the dreary silence. Save the melancholy sea, Where I am, the sun is shining, Till their rich armorial shadows Where I fain would be! P Where I am, the days are passing O'er a pathway strewn with flowers; Song and joy and starry pleasures Crown the happy smiling hours:Slowly, heavily, and sadly, Time with weary wings must flee, Marked by pain, and toil, and sorrow, Where I fain would be! Where I am, the great and noble, Tell me of renown and fame, And the red wine sparkles highest, To do honour to my name :— Far away a place is vacant, By a humble hearth for me, Dying embers dimly show it Where I fain would be! Where I am, are glorious dreamings, And the great minds whom all honour Interchange their thoughts with mine: A few simple hearts are waiting, Longing, wearying, for me, Far away where tears are falling, Where I fain would be! Where I am, all think me happy, For so well I play my part, who smile around me, None can guess, How far distant is my heart Far away, in a poor cottage, Listening to the dreary sea, Where the treasures of my life are, Where I fain would be! WISHES. GLL the fluttering wishes Caged within thy heart Beat their wings against it, Longing to depart, Till they shake their prison With their wounded cry; Open wide thy heart to-day, Let them first fly upward Want and woe are found. Where the weary stitcher Where the lonely watcher Where with thin weak fingers, Toiling at the loom, Stand the little children, Blighted ere they bloom. Where by darkness blinded, Groping for the light, With distorted conscience Men do wrong for right; Where in the cold shadow, By smooth pleasure thrown, Human hearts by hundreds Harden into stone. Where on dusty highways, With faint heart and slow, Cursing the glad sunlight, For one place is empty, And one voice is still. |