ARE THE CHILDREN AT HOME.

Otago Witness, Issue 1461, 15 November 1879, Page 23

ARE THE CHILDREN AT HOME.

Each day, when the glow of snnsct Fades in the western sky, And the wee ones, tired of playing, Go tripping lightly by. I steal away from my husband, Asleep in his easy chair, And watch from the open Hoorway Their faces fresh and fair. Alone in the dear old homestead, That once was full of life; Ringing with girlish laughter, Echoing boyish stiife. We l\\ o aie waiting together, And oft as the shadows come, With tremulous voice he callj me "It is night ! Are the children home ?" " Yes love," I answer him gently, " They're all home long ago j" And I sing in my quivering tremble, A song so soft and low. Till the old man drops to slumber, With his head upon his hand, And I tell to myself the number At home in the better land. Homf, where never a sorrow * Shall dim their eyes with tears, Wheie the smile of God is on them, Through all the summer years. I know, yet my arms are empty 1 hat fondly folded seveu, And the mother heart within me Is almost starved for heaven. Sometimes in the dusk of evening, I only shut my eyes, And the children are all about me, A vision from the skies. The babes, whose dimpled fingers Lost the way to my breast, And the beautiful ones, the angels, Passed to the world of the blest. A breath, and the vision is lifted Away on the wings ot light, And again we two are together, AH alone in the night. They tell me his mind is failing, But I smile at idle fears ; He is only back with the children, In th^ dear and peaceful years. And still as the summer sunset Fades away in the west, And the wee ones, tired of paying, Go trooping home tore--t, My husband calls from his corner, " Say love ! have the children ,come f" And I answer with e>cs uplifted, •' Yes, dear ! they aie all at home.