I go to see my own dear land once more ;1
I go to die where first I saw the light !2
How much your loss, ye cold ones, I deplore,3
In whom the thoughts of home no thrill excite !4
Ye fields, of childhood’s joys the teeming scene,5
With hosts of tender recollections sown,6
The twofold charm ye offer us, I ween,7
Of recent joys mix’d up with those long gone.8
All here below feel more or less the tie9
That draws us where our infant cradles lay ;10
Sweet sympathy, which makes life lightly fly,11
And from the grave takes ev’n its gloom away !12
Wearied with absence, lengthen’d out too long,13
Of former pleasures I delight to dream ;14
My heart revives, and Hope inspires my song,15
And still is home, dear home, the cheering theme.16