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Classic and Contemporary Poetry


COME HOME by DOUGLAS MALLOCH

First Line: HOME'S NOT A HOUSE, HOME IS A HEART
Last Line: YOU STAY TOO LONG, AND LOSE THE WAY.
Subject(s): HOMECOMING;

Home's not a house, home is a heart
To which you come at night;
Home is a shrine, a thing apart,
An altar lamp alight.
The journey o'er, the long day through,
Home is a heart awaiting you.

How low your roof I do not care,
How high your ivied towers;
If not a heart is waiting there
That counts the weary hours,
You are as homeless as the poor
Who sleep unsheltered on the moor.

But if you have a hearth, a home,
A chair, a glowing fire,
A wife awaiting while you roam,
And children for their sire,
Let neither gold nor pleasure blind,
Nor think a greater joy to find.

Come home, for home is always best,
However loud the song;
Come home, for home is tenderest,
And right, and never wrong;
Come home, for fear some foolish day
You stay too long, and lose the way.



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