The Wife’s Song of Home.
The Home of my choice is nor humble nor great,1
It is not a mansion of splendour and state,2
Nor white rustic cottage by roses o’ergrown ;3
I worship no idols of wood or of stone.4
Mine is not the weak, feeble spirit, that clings5
With dull, helpless grasp to inanimate things :6
The dwelling for me, love, exists where thou
art,—7
The Home that I prize is the Home of the Heart
!8
Perchance our abode strange and varied may be,—9
A swift-sailing vessel that cleaves the blue sea,10
A log-house, constructed by rude, hurried hands,11
Or tented encampment on parched desert sands ;12
Yet each shall to me yield as true a content13
As the fair, spacious halls, where my childhood was spent.14
Oh ! never from Home can the loving depart,15
When they share with a loved one the Home of the Heart
!16