The Return

I have been where the roses blow,
    Where the orange ripens its gold,
And the mountains stand with their peaks of snow,
    To fence away the cold,
Where the lime and the myrtle lent
    Their fragrance to the air,
To make the land of my banishment
    More exquisitely fair.

And I heard the ring dove call
    To his mate in the blossoming trees,
And I saw the white waves heave and fall.
    Far away over southern seas.
I listened along the beach,
    By the shore of the shifting sea,
To the waves, till I knew their murmured speech,
    And the message they bore to me.

And I watched the great sails furled.
    Like the wings of some ocean bird,
That brought me, out of another world,
    A warning, and a word;
For still beside my way,
    By shore or sunlit wave,
There journeyed with me night and day,
    The shadow of a grave.

Oh, friends! my heart went forth
    To you with a yearning cry,
To be taken back to my native North--
    To be taken home to die.
For sweeter than southern suns,
    Or the blossoms of summer lands,
Are the faces of my little ones,
    And the touch of their tender hands.

Come closer to my side,
    Your eyes are as clear and true
As if they were stars my way to guide,
    My darlings, back to you.
Oh God! my heart is stirred
    With thankfulness and rest,
To reach at last, like a wounded bird,
    The shelter of its nest

Oh, faint pulse, throbbing long!
    And weary and fluttering breath,
Twas the mother-love that kept you strong,
    Though face to face with death.
But now my eyes are dim,
    And my breath comes weak and slow,
Sing to me softly the evening hymn,
    And kiss me ere I go.

Come close for the angel waits--
    The angel with gentle hand,
To open for me the shadowy gates,
    Into the silent land.
Oh, voices sweet and clear
    What light is in the skies?
Is it your glad voices that I hear--
Or the hymns of paradise?

Farewell your faces fade--
    Fade--fade--and disappear
In the light no earthly cloud may shade,
    Heaven's morning dawning clear.
Oh, land of rest so fair
    By angel footsteps trod,
I shall wait for you, beloved there,
    In the paradise of God.