A New Year's Eve, and Other Poems :: :: University of Virginia Library

Though lonely seems our home the while,
I am content that thou shouldst stray
'Mid scenes whose memory can beguile
My thoughts when thou art far away;
Nor will I chide thy lengthened stay,
If thou wilt bring back to thy sire,
The glow of heart, the spirit's play,
Those scenes could once inspire.

But this, my love, can never be;
And such a dream I could forego,
If what those haunts have yielded me,
Their influence may on thee bestow:

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More grateful still it were to know,
While thus afar 'tis thine to roam,
With what awakens pleasure's glow,
May blend fond thoughts of home.

The ivy on our garden wall,
On which I gaze;—in many an hour
To me can silently recall
The wreaths which deck your old church-tower:
May those in thee with magic power,
Such feelings and such thoughts awake;
And many a tree and many a flower,
The same fond spell partake.

Oh! be it thus; then though thou art
A truant still from home and me,
These links shall bind us to thy heart,
And loved memorials ever be;
Nor shall thine eye an object see,
Though fair the scenes where thou mayst roam,
Which boasts a sweeter charm for thee,
Than wakening thoughts of home.