BACK from old England, in whose courts he stood Foremost to knit by act and word the band Between the daughter and the mother-land In all by either prized of truth and good, We welcome to a fellowship renewed His country's friend and ours. The master-hand That held the pen and lyre could still command Affairs of state, controlling league and feud. So, helped, not hindered, may his later strains Flow deeper, richer, though by sorrow toned; And life by losses grow as once by gains; And age hold fast the best that youth has owned. But ah, hurt not with touch too heavy, Time, The light-winged wisdom of his gayer rhyme. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...SWEET CLOVER by EDGAR LEE MASTERS VIRTUE [OR, VERTUE] by GEORGE HERBERT THE KEARSARGE (1894) by JAMES JEFFREY ROCHE THE FAMINE YEAR by JANE FRANCESCA WILDE A GULL GOES UP by LEONIE ADAMS TO GEORGE CRUIKSHANK, ESQ., ON SEEING HIS PICTURE ... by MATTHEW ARNOLD |