The Wife to her Husband

Anonymous

LINGER not long. Home is not home without thee:

Its dearest tokens do but make me mourn.

O, let its memory, like a chain about thee,

Gently compel and hasten thy return!

Linger not long. Though crowds should woo thy staying,

Bethink thee, can the mirth of thy friends, though dear,

Compensate for the grief thy long delaying

Costs the fond heart that sighs to have thee here?

Linger not long. How shall I watch thy coming,

As evening shadows stretch o’er moor and dell;

When the wild bee hath ceased her busy humming,

And silence hangs on all things like a spell!

How shall I watch for thee, when fears grow stronger,

As night grows dark and darker on the hill!

How shall I weep, when I can watch no longer!

Ah! art thou absent, art thou absent still?

Yet I shall grieve not, though the eye that seeth me

Gazeth through tears that makes its splendor dull;

For oh! I sometimes fear when thou art with me,

My cup of happiness is all too full.

Haste, haste thee home unto thy mountain dwelling,

Haste, as a bird unto its peaceful nest!

Haste, as a skiff, through tempests wide and swelling,

Flies to its haven of securest rest!