Republican Herald

POETRY.

Home Farewell.

I paused upon the mountain's brow,
And turned me to survey
My native home all smiling now,
Beneath the sun of May.
The bustling world before me lay,
Where I must win a name;
I turned me to the onward way,
And whispered thou shalt fame.
But memory fondly lingered back,
And dwelt mid gatherings heard,
Upon my life's eventful track,
Through few—but changing years.
My early love, and hope and fear,
Though disappointment's shroud,
Shone forth as when the sun appears
One moment through a cloud.
Farewell! awhile my steps that stray,
In toiling infancy;
Farewell from my mountain's footstep grayed
In boyhood's thoughtless glee.
Let treasured pleasures, my memory
Linked with each field and spring;
She clings to every rock and tree
And every familiar thing.
And here in childhood's day I heard,
What ne'er again shall hear—
Or human voice, or song of bird;
Or water murmuring near,
The echoes that, with wondrous ear,
I traced from hill to hill,
Lingering through many a noiseless year—
Ring in my fancy still.
And here the light of love
Upon my pathway shed;
A meteor's light destined to prove
That dazzled me and fled—
And here that sister's grave is made,
Upon whose love I leant—
Oh fate! on this devoted head,
Is not thy malice spent!
My native home! farewell once more!
Hope darkens on my mind!
I tempt the unknown world before,
And leave my home behind!
Where shall I meet such friends so kind,
As those who love me well?
Another home where shall I find
But yet, my home, farewell!