The Homes of England

The Homes of England

-------- A land of peace,
Where yellow fields unspoil'd, and pastures green,
Mottled with herds and flocks, who crop secure
Their native herbage, nor have ever known
A stranger's stall, smile gladly.
See through its tufted alleys to Heaven's roof
The curling smoke of quiet dwellings rise.
JOANNA BAILLIE.

The stately Homes of England,

How beautiful they stand!

Amidst their tall ancestral trees,

O'er all the pleasant land!

The deer across the green sward bound,

Through shade and sunny gleam;

And the swan glides past them with the sound

Of some rejoicing stream.

The merry Homes of England!

Around their hearths by night,

What gladsome looks of household love

Meet in the ruddy light!

There woman's voice flows forth in song,

Or childhood's tale is told;

Or lips more tunefully along

Some glorious page of old.

The blessed Homes of England!

How softly on their bowers,

Is laid the holy quietness

That breathes from Sabbath hours!

Solemn, yet sweet, the church-bell's chime

Floats through their woods at morn;

All other sounds in that still time,

Of breeze and leaf are born

The Cottage Homes of England!

By thousands, on her plains,

They are smiling o'er the silvery brooks,

And round the hamlet-fanes,

Through glowing orchards forth they peep,

Each from its nook of leaves,

And fearless there they lowly sleep,

As the bird beneath their eaves.

The free, fair Homes of England!

Long, long in hut and hall,

May hearts of native proof be rear'd,

To guard each hallowed wall!

And green for ever be the groves,

And bright the flowery sod,

Where first the child's glad spirit loves

Its Country and its God!

Unattributed

1:16, p. 64

1827.06.29