Bliss Carman, et al., eds. The World’s Best Poetry.
Volume III. Sorrow and Consolation. 1904. | | | | II. Parting and Absence | | 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! | |
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| Linger not long. Though crowds should woo thy staying, | 5 |
| 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? | |
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| Linger not long. How shall I watch thy coming, | |
| As evening shadows stretch o’er moor and dell; | 10 |
| When the wild bee hath ceased her busy humming, | |
| And silence hangs on all things like a spell! | |
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| 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! | 15 |
| Ah! art thou absent, art thou absent still? | |
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| 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. | 20 |
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| 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! | | | | |
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