My Own Fireside

Margaret Elizabeth Munson Sangster
Submitted by: Mrs. Deborah Phelps

Let others seek for empty joys,
At ball or concert, rout or play;
Whilst far from Fashion's idle noise,
Her gilded domes and trappings gay,
I while the wintry eve away,
'Twixt book and lute the hours divide,
And marvel how I e'er could stray
From thee--my own fireside!

My own fireside! Those simple words
Can bid the sweetest dreams arise;
Awaken feeling's tenderest chords,
And fill with tears of joy mine eyes,
What is there my wild heart can prize,
That doth not in thy sphere abide,
Haunt of my home-bred sympathies,
My own--my own fireside?

A gentle form is near me now;
A small white hand is clasped in mine:
I gaze upon her placid brow,
And ask, What joys can equal thine?
A babe, whose beauty's half divine,
In sleep his mother's eyes doth hide;
Where may love seek a fitter shrine
Than thou, my own fireside?

What care I for the sullen war
Of winds without, that ravage earth--
It doth but bid me prize the more
The shelter of thy hallowed hearth;
To thoughts of quiet bliss give birth;
Then let the churlish tempest chide,
It cannot check the blameless mirth
That glads my own fireside!

Thy precincts are a charmed ring,
Where no harsh feeling dares intrude;
Where life's vexations lose their sting;
Where even grief is half subdued;
And peace, the halcyon, loves to brood.
Then let the world's proud fool deride;
I'll pay my debt of gratitude
To thee--my own fireside!

Shrine of my household deities!
Bright scene of home's unsullied joys!
To thee my burdened spirit flies,
When Fortune frowns, or Care annoys,
Thine is the bliss that never cloys;
The smile whose truth had oft been tried;
What then are this world's tinsel toys,
To thee--my own fireside!

O, may the yearnings, fond and sweet,
That bid my thoughts be all of thee,
Thus ever guide my wandering feet
To thy heart-soothing sanctuary!
Whate're my future years may be,
Let joy or grief my fate betide,
Be still an Eden bright to me,
My own--my own fireside!

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