 | Beads from a Rosary |  |
55
A SONG OF WELCOME.
Welcome, welcome back again,
Laughing lip, and joyous eye,
Merry voice, that long in vain
We have sighed for wearily.
Summer's rule hath long been past,
Ravaged is her fair domain;
Howls on high the wintry wind,
Sweeps to earth the angry rain;
But we care not—smiles, for flowers;
Happy thoughts, for cloudless hours;
Jests, for sunbeams—these are ours!
Welcome, welcome to our hearth once more,
All that made it bright in days of yore.
Laughing lip, and joyous eye,
Merry voice, that long in vain
We have sighed for wearily.
Summer's rule hath long been past,
Ravaged is her fair domain;
Howls on high the wintry wind,
Sweeps to earth the angry rain;
But we care not—smiles, for flowers;
Happy thoughts, for cloudless hours;
Jests, for sunbeams—these are ours!
Welcome, welcome to our hearth once more,
All that made it bright in days of yore.
56
Welcome, welcome back again,
Sweet familiar face, so long
Absent from us;—gloomy pain,
With its dark, relentless throng
Of fierce phantasms, long hath fled:
Health hath bound the broken chain,
And our lily lifts her head
Lightly from the earth again—
Grief was ours, but it has flown;
Fears, but they are past and gone;
Hope and joy remain alone:
Welcome, welcome to our hearth once more,
All that made it bright in days of yore.
Sweet familiar face, so long
Absent from us;—gloomy pain,
With its dark, relentless throng
Of fierce phantasms, long hath fled:
Health hath bound the broken chain,
And our lily lifts her head
Lightly from the earth again—
Grief was ours, but it has flown;
Fears, but they are past and gone;
Hope and joy remain alone:
Welcome, welcome to our hearth once more,
All that made it bright in days of yore.
| Beads from a Rosary | |