Page:The Domestic Affections, and Other Poems.pdf/58



' dark are the prospects and heavy the hours, Tho' life is a desert, and cheerless the way; Yet still shall affection adorn it with flow'rs, Whose fragrance shall never decay!

And, lo! to embrace thee, my brother! she flies, With artless delight, that no words can bespeak; With a sun-beam of transport illuming her eyes, With a smile and a glow on her cheek!

From the trophies of war, from the spear and the shield, From scenes of destruction, from perils unblest; Oh! welcome again to the grove and the field, To the vale of retirement and rest!