 | Verses of a life time |  |
166
ANSWER
TO THE CHARGE OF LOVING THE LAND OF MY ADOPTION MORE THAN THE HOME OF MY BIRTH.
Guilty, yes, guilty.—Faint on memory's height
Linger the beams to young experience dear,
Fading beneath the glow of tender light
That shines in kindly radiance o'er me here.
Linger the beams to young experience dear,
Fading beneath the glow of tender light
That shines in kindly radiance o'er me here.
I sigh not for New England's orchard store,
Her cultur'd meadows, or her gurgling rills;
I ask no musings by her rocky shore,
Nor summer rambles on her sloping hills.
Her cultur'd meadows, or her gurgling rills;
I ask no musings by her rocky shore,
Nor summer rambles on her sloping hills.
My heart is here. The lowland scenes to me
Are fraught with all that makes life worth my care;
A thousand clustering joys spring buoyantly
And throw their branches on my being's air.
Are fraught with all that makes life worth my care;
A thousand clustering joys spring buoyantly
And throw their branches on my being's air.
167
Home, where young faces glow like living flowers,
And time's intruding footsteps half arrest;
Protecting arms, that guard my sunny bowers
With gentle care that blesses to be blest.
And time's intruding footsteps half arrest;
Protecting arms, that guard my sunny bowers
With gentle care that blesses to be blest.
Friends—dear as ever were the friends of yore—
Spontaneous—bursting in unselfish bloom.—
I had no sunshine on their lot to pour,
And yet they gave the stranger sweet perfume.
Spontaneous—bursting in unselfish bloom.—
I had no sunshine on their lot to pour,
And yet they gave the stranger sweet perfume.
Religion—for to God unfettered swells
Soft hymns, pure prayers within my chosen fane,
While on my household altar safely dwells
The incense kindled to his sacred name.
Soft hymns, pure prayers within my chosen fane,
While on my household altar safely dwells
The incense kindled to his sacred name.
Forgive the wanderer, then, who thus beguil'd,
Turns from her cradle by New-England's side,
And having there paid reverence as a child,
Clings here to Carolina as a bride.
Turns from her cradle by New-England's side,
And having there paid reverence as a child,
Clings here to Carolina as a bride.
Charleston, S. C.
| Verses of a life time | |