Lancaster daily intelligencer. [volume] (Lancaster, Pa.) 1864-1928, 1880-08-30

MONDAY EVENING. AUG. 30. 1890.

MONDAY EVENING, AUG. 30 100O.
HOAEWARD BOUND.
Our trusty, well-beloved friend
Was homeward bound across the sea,
From lonely sojoun in Tar lands
He came to clasp our ciasping hands,
To hear our welcome sweet;
To bring his wanderings to an end
In this dear home with mine and me,
To make my quiet bliss complete.
IL come" he wrote This letter lies
Before me In tho sunshine fair),
Is come with heart content to see
The Joy which God hath given to thee.
My comrade true and tried;
1 fain would sec It with mine eyes,
1 fain would hear thysclfdeclare
How deep thine happiness, how wide.
IL come because long to SEQ
The bonny English flowers a-blOOm,
Because q spirit of unrest
Doth vex my latcly-quiet breast
With whispers In my sleep
or daisied meadow, breezy leu,
OF April sunshine and perfume,
Of heath-clad mountains grey AMI steep
81 come because the rolling years
Have stillcd the passion OF my youth,
Because the rugged path of time
Hath led me up to heights sublime.
And !, who could not see
Thy first great bliss for binding tears,
] say to-day in honest truth
Gods way was best for thceand me.
- 1 come to take thine hand. my friend,
To look upon thy sweet wife's face,
To see thy children fond and fair;
TObrcathc again the blessed air
That famed inc at my birth;
Until (bcside thee to the end)
I go from forth my dwelling. place
Tofind grave on English earth.
IL come. my friend" Ali me! sweet wife,
What marvel that the tears run down:
What marvel that these tender words
Smite mournfully on true llcartchOrds,
Since he, whose thoughts they bear,
lie, who had loved US all his life,
Who for loves sake laid down loves crown,
Hath parted from us Otlcrwhere?
Tic thought to sec our happy home,
Our wedded bliss, our children dear,
lie thought to see thce by my side,
Who dared not look upon my bride.
Who lOv'd thee In his prime:
I;ut DER his grave, with crcsts OF foam
The wild Atlantic DillOws rear
Their heads. and makes u mourntul chime.
He will not see this home of ours,
This little Eden all our own,
lie will not bring within our door
An added blessing to loves store
Of cheerful sacrifice;
And to the height of heavenly flowers
Our precious blossoms will have grown
Before they meet his kindly eyes.
iIe will not sec, my sweetest wife,
Thy radiant beauty past Its morn,
Nor tender traces of the tears,
The siglls and smiles, the hopes and fears,
OF wife's and mothers care.
Ii through the mists of failing lie,
lie saw thy face it must have worn
The look that remember there.
The April look of long ago,
When all were young and thou vast free,
And on the hawthOrn-bOardcd way
We lOitcred In the glad MONDAY,
Beneath a sapphire sky;
All, wife then dawned loves summer glow,
My beating heart sprang out to thee,
But my true friend went silent by.
lie was the worthicr OF the twain,
His pulses beat rs strOug rs mine,
lie looked on thee with lover eyes,
And never sought to win the prize,
But standing calm apart,
Smiled brotherly upon my gain,
And pressed into my cup of wine
The crusil'd, ripe first-fruits OF his heart.
All, my lost friend that tender debt
Which VIC had purposed to repay,
The debt which came with sweet loves birth
Can never be repaid on earth.
But thou hast surely found
A happy end to life's regret;
Gods angel met thee by the way,
And thou, indeed, vast homcward bound!
-AH the Year Round.