Edwin Ford Piper

GOOD-BYE to riding the wilderness

With my thoughts for company;

To the old new bed on the prairie grass,

A saddle to pillow me!

I will build me a house in the April sun

On my little garden ground.

My hand shall shape the rafter and beam,

My hammer stroke shall sound.

For a house is a house, and home is home—

The roots of the soul go deep;

And I own the boards and the rusting nails

As I own my tears and my sleep.

Good-bye to riding the wilderness!—

I build in the April sun.

Good-bye to the land of the lonely sky—

My homeless days are done.