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THE WELCOME HOME, by CAROLINE ANNE BOWLES SOUTHEY Poet's Biography First Line: Hark! Hark! They're come! Those merry bells Last Line: We blindly thought -- a foreign tomb! Alternate Author Name(s): Bowles, Caroline Anne Subject(s): Homecoming | ||||||||
HARK! hark! they're come! -- those merry bells That peal their joyous welcome swells; And many hearts are swelling high, With more than joy -- with ecstasy! And many an eye is straining now Toward that good ship, that sails so slow; And many a look toward the land They cast upon that deck who stand. Flow, flow, ye tides! -- ye languid gales, Rise, rise, and fill their flagging sails! -- Ye tedious moments, fly, begone, And speed the blissful meeting on. Impatient watchers! happy ye, Whose hope shall soon be certainty; Happy, thrice happy! soon to strain Fond hearts to kindred hearts again! Brothers and sisters -- children -- mother -- All, all restored to one another! All, all return'd; -- And are there none To me restored, return'd? -- Not one. Far other meeting mine must be With friends long lost -- far other sea Than thou, O restless ocean! flows Between us -- one that never knows Ebb-tide or flood; -- a stagnant sea; Time's gulf; -- its shore eternity! No voyager from that shadowy bourne With chart or sounding may return. There, there they stand -- the loved! -- the lost! They beckon from that awful coast! -- They cannot thence return to me, But I shall go to them. -- I see E'en now, methinks, those forms so dear, Bend smiling to invite me there. O, best beloved! a little while, And I obey that beckoning smile! 'T is all my comfort now to know In God's good time it shall be so; And yet, in that sweet hope's despite Sad thoughts oppress my heart to-night. And doth the sight of others' gladness Oppress the selfish heart with sadness? Now Heaven forbid! -- but tears will rise -- Unbidden tears -- into mine eyes, When busy thought contrasts with theirs My fate, my feelings. Four brief years Have wing'd their flight, since, where they stand, I stood, and watch'd that parting band, (Then parting hence) -- and one, methought, (O human foresight! set at nought By God's unfathom'd will!) was borne From England, never to return! -- With sadden'd heart, I turn'd to seek Mine own beloved home -- to speak With her who shared it, of the fears She also shared in ... It appears But yesterday that thus we spoke; And I can see the very look With which she said, "I do believe Mine eyes have ta'en their last long leave Of her who has gone hence to-day!" Five months succeeding slipp'd away; And, on the sixth, a deep-toned bell Swung slow, of recent death to tell; It toll'd for her, with whom so late I reason'd of impending fate; To me those solemn words who spoke So late, with that remember'd look! And now, from that same steeple, swells A joyous peal of merry bells, Her welcome, whose approaching doom We blindly thought -- a foreign tomb! | Other Poems of Interest...TOMORROW I LEAVE TO EL PASO, TEXAS by JUAN FELIPE HERRERA COMING HOME AT TWILIGHT IN LATE SUMMER by JANE KENYON THE NEGATIVES by PHILIP LEVINE THE WATER'S CHANT by PHILIP LEVINE THE EXILE'S RETURN by ROBERT LOWELL THE RETURN by EDGAR LEE MASTERS TAKING THE TRAIN HOME by WILLIAM MATTHEWS I SHALL RETURN by CLAUDE MCKAY |
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