Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, GOING HOME, by NATHANIEL PARKER WILLIS


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

GOING HOME, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Bright flag at yonder tapering mast
Last Line: Room, mother! In thy heart! Place for her in thy prayer!
Variant Title(s): Lines On Leaving Europe;my Mother
Subject(s): Homecoming; Mothers


BRIGHT flag at yonder tapering mast!
Fling out your field of azure blue;
Let star and stripe be westward cast,
And point as Freedom's eagle flew!
Strain home! oh lithe and quivering spars!
Point home, my country's flag of stars!

The wind blows fair! the vessel feels
The pressure of the rising breeze,
And, swiftest of a thousand keels,
She leaps to the careering seas!
Oh, fair, fair cloud of snowy sail,
In whose white breast I seem to lie,
How oft, when blew this eastern gale,
I've seen your semblance in the sky,
And long'd with breaking heart to flee
On cloud-like pinions o'er the sea!

Adieu, oh lands of fame and eld!
I turn to watch our foamy track,
And thoughts with which I first beheld
Yon clouded line, come hurrying back;
My lips are dry with vague desire, --
My cheek once more is hot with joy --
My pulse, my brain, my soul on fire! --
Oh, what has changed that traveller-boy!
As leaves the ship this dying foam,
His visions fade behind -- his weary heart speeds home!

Adieu, oh soft and southern shore,
Where dwelt the stars long miss'd in heaven --
Those forms of beauty seen no more,
Yet once to Art's rapt vision given!
Oh, still th' enamor'd sun delays,
And pries through fount and crumbling fane,
To win to his adoring gaze
Those children of the sky again!
Irradiate beauty, such as never
That light on other earth hath shone,
Hath made this land her home forever;
And could I live for this alone --
Were not my birthright brighter far
Than such voluptuous slaves, can be --
Held not the West one glorious star
New-born and blazing for the free --
Soar'd not to heaven our eagle yet --
Rome, with her Helot sons, should teach me to forget!

Adieu, oh fatherland! I see
Your white cliffs on th' horizon's rim,
And though to freer skies I flee,
My heart swells, and my eyes are dim!
As knows the dove the task you give her,
When loosed upon a foreign shore --
As spreads the rain-drop in the river
In which it may have flow'd before --
To England, over vale and mountain,
My fancy flew from climes more fair --
My blood, that knew its parent fountain,
Ran warm and fast in England's air.

Dear mother! in thy prayer, to-night,
There come new words and warmer tears!
On long, long darkness breaks the light --
Comes home the loved, the lost for years!
Sleep safe, oh wave-worn mariner!
Fear not, to-night, or storm or sea!
The ear of heaven bends low to her!
He comes to shore who sails with me!
The spider knows the roof unriven,
While swings his web, though lightnings blaze --
And by a thread still fast on heaven,
I know my mother lives and prays!

Dear mother! when our lips can speak --
When first our tears will let us see --
When I can gaze upon thy cheek,
And thou, with thy dear eyes, on me --
'Twill be a pastime little sad
To trace what weight Time's heavy fingers
Upon each other's forms have had --
For all may flee, so feeling lingers!
But there's a change, beloved mother!
To stir far deeper thoughts of thine;
I come -- but with me comes another
To share the heart once only mine!
Thou, on whose thoughts, when sad and lonely,
One star arose in memory's heaven --
Thou, who hast watch'd one treasure only --
Water'd one flower with tears at even --
Room in thy heart! The hearth she left
Is darken'd to lend light to ours!
There are bright flowers of care bereft,
And hearts -- that languish more than flowers!
She was their light -- their very air --
Room, mother! in thy heart! place for her in thy prayer!





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