Contents -BIBLIOGRAPHIC RECORD

Thomas R. Lounsbury, ed. (1838–1915). Yale Book of American Verse. 1912.

From the Opera of “Clari, the Maid of Milan”

John Howard Payne 1791–1852

John Howard Payne

14 Home, Sweet Home

MID PLEASURES and palaces though we may roam,

Be it ever so humble there ’s no place like home!

A charm from the sky seems to hallow us there,

Which, seek through the world, is ne’er met with elsewhere.

Home! home! sweet, sweet home!

There ’s no place like home!

An exile from home, splendor dazzles in vain:

O, give me my lowly thatched cottage again!

The birds singing gayly that came at my call;—

Give me them,—and the peace of mind dearer than all!

Home! home! sweet, sweet home!

There ’s no place like home!

How sweet ’t is to sit ’neath a fond father’s smile,

And the cares of a mother to soothe and beguile!

Let others delight mid new pleasures to roam,

But give me, oh, give me, the pleasures of home!

Home! home! sweet, sweet home!

There ’s no place like home!

To thee I ’ll return, overburdened with care;

The heart’s dearest solace will smile on me there;

No more from that cottage again will I roam;

Be it ever so humble, there ’s no place like home.

Home! home! sweet, sweet home!

There ’s no place like home!