I like to walk the quiet streets Of towns I do not know, Not where the whirl of traffic meets But where the tide is slow -- The quiet streets I like to roam, The little neighborhoods of home. A candle in a cottage burns; I pause awhile and dream; Tonight some laborer returns, Rewarded by its beam For all the heavy day of toil, The heat of sun, the grime of soil. A rose-bush by the window, she A rose beside the door, Whose petalled lips are good to see, A baby on the floor -- Oh, better this, the humble cot, Than palaces where love is not. L'ENVOI The theme is old -- the cot, the wife -- But we shall learn at last That this is all there is of life Worth while when youth is past, Whatever wealth ambition brings, That peace is where the kettle sings. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...CHAMBER MUSIC: 28 by JAMES JOYCE CAPPER KAPLINSKI AT THE NORTH SIDE CUE CLUB by HAYDEN CARRUTH MY HUT; AFTER TRAN QUANG KHAI by HAYDEN CARRUTH SYNOPSIS OF A FAILED POEM by JAMES GALVIN TWO POEMS FROM THE WAR: 1 by ARCHIBALD MACLEISH |