CALM scenes of patriarch life! how long a power Your unworn pastoral images retain O'er the true heart, which in its childhood's hour Drank their pure freshness deep! The camels' train Winding in patience o'er the desertplain -- The tent, the palm-tree, the reposing flock, The gleaming fount, the shadow of the rock -- Oh! by how subtle, yet how strong a chain, And in the influence of its touch how blessed, Are these things linked, in many a thoughtful breast, To household-memories, thro' all change endeared! -- The matin bird, the ripple of a stream Beside our native porch, the hearth-light's gleam, The voices, earliest by the soul revered! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...PURSUIT OF THE WORD by ROBERT FROST LOVE IN A COTTAGE by NATHANIEL PARKER WILLIS CHELSEA by LILLIAN M. (PETTES) AINSWORTH UNTO US A CHILD IS BORN by AGNES H. BEGBIE WATCHING RUNNING WATER by EDMUND CHARLES BLUNDEN |