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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

HOME THOUGHTS by THOMAS D'ARCY MCGEE

First Line: IF WILL HAD WINGS / HOW FAST I'D FLEE
Last Line: WHERE MY OWN LOVE DWELLS.
Subject(s): HOMESICKNESS; IRELAND; IRISH;
IF Will had wings,
How fast I'd flee,
To the home of my heart
O'er the seething sea!
If Wishes were power,
If Words were spells,
I'd be this hour
Where my own love dwells.

My own love dwells
In the storied land,
Where the Holy Wells
Sleep in yellow sand;
And the emerald lustre
Of Paradise beams,
Over homes that cluster
Round singing streams.

I, sighing, alas!
Exist alone;
My youth is as grass
On an unsunned stone;
Bright to the eye,
But unfelt below,
As sunbeams that lie
Over Arctic snow.

My heart is a lamp
That love must relight,
Or the world's fire-damp
Will quench it quite;
In the breast of my dear,
My life-tide springs --
Oh! I'd hurry home here,
If Will had wings.

For she never was weary
Of blessing me,
When morn rose dreary
On thatch and tree;
She evermore chanted
Her song of Faith,
When darkness daunted
On hill and heath.

If Will had wings,
How fast I'd flee
To the home of my heart
O'er the seething sea!
If Wishes were power,
If Words were spells,
I'd be this hour
Where my own love dwells.



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