The Sailor’s Dream.
A sailor on a lonely shore1
Dreams of the happy days to come,2
When some brave ship shall bear him home,3
Ah ! home again once more !4
He dreams of walking once again5
Up the still village street until6
He leans upon a window-sill,7
Looks through a window-pane.8
He sees his dear ones sitting round9
His blazing hearth, and hears them say,10
“ Oh, weary-long is every day11
Until our dear one’s found ! ”12
He dreams, until his eyes grow dim,13
Of all the gladness that might be,14
If that brave ship should cross the sea15
Which will not come for him.16
Better his lonely life—made fair17
With dreams of hope, undying, sweet—18
Than if he journeyed home to meet19
An infinite despair !20
For loving wife and children three21
Are laid beneath the daisied grass ;22
And all he dreams is as it was ;23
Never again can be !24