Page:Poems PiattVol2.djvu/172

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
160
HOME AGAIN.
And—oh! how strange!—that friendless wanderer smiled
As calmly as a cradled, thoughtless child.

For Memory bore him to his home; he heard
The murmured music of his childish hours;
He saw familiar trees and each bright bird
Whose sweet song gushed at Spring-time 'mid the flowers;
His sister smiled, his mother's thrilling kiss
Flushed his pale cheek with more than former bliss.

He woke, while listening to the words of love,
And heard the passing night-wind's deep farewell!
He saw the trees around, the clouds above,
And murmured, starting from that blesséd spell,
"O God! the loved are gone—my dream is o'er;
This is a forest—I've a home no more!"

. . . World-wanderer, thou art in a forest too!
Oh! dream and smile as did that lonely boy:
There is a home for thee: the loved, the true,
Await thee there amid unfading joy;
Weary and sad thou too shalt fall asleep:
The shades around thee shall be dim and deep.