Page:Hemans in Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine 25 1829.pdf/7



Alas! the kind, the playful, and the gay, They who have gladden'd their domestic board, And cheer'd the winter hearth-do they return?

home!—there is a sorrowing breath In music since ye went; And the early flower-scents wander by, With mournful memories blent: The sounds of every household voice Are grown more sad and deep, And the sweet word—Brother—wakes a wish To turn aside and weep.

O ye beloved, come home!—the hour Of many a greeting tone, The time of hearth-light and of song Returns—and ye are gone! And darkly, heavily it falls On the forsaken room, Burdening the heart with tenderness, That deepens midst the gloom.

Where finds it you, our wandering ones? With all your boyhood's glee Untamed, beneath the desert's palm, Or on the lone mid-sea? 'Mid stormy hills of battles old, Or where dark rivers foam? Oh! Life is dim where ye are not.— Back, ye beloved! come home!

Come with the leaves and winds of spring, And swift birds o'er the main! Our love is grown too sorrowful, Bring us its youth again! Bring the glad tones to music back— —Still, still your home is fair; The spirit of your sunny life Alone is wanting there!F. H.