The Home-Coming
Robert William Service 1874 – 1958
My boy's come back; he's here at last;
He came home on a special train.
My longing and my ache are past,
My only son is back again.
He's home with music, flags and flowers;
With peace and joy my heart's abrim;
He got here in the morning hours
With half the town to welcome him.
To hush my grief, night after night,
How I have digged my pillow deep,
And it would be the morning light
Before I sobbed myself to sleep.
And how I used to stare and stare
Across the harbour's yeasty foam,
Thinking he's fighting far out there . . .
But now with bells my boy's come home.
There's Mrs. Burke, she has her Ted,
But less the sight of his two eyes;
And Mrs. Smith - you know her Fred -
They took his legs off at the thighs.
How can these women happy be,
For all their bravery of talk,
One with a son who cannot see,
One with a boy who'll never walk.
I should be happier than they;
My lad came back without a scar,
And all the folks are proud they say,
To greet their hero of the war.
So in the gentle eventide
I'll give God thanks my Bert's come home. . . .
As peacefully I sit beside
His tiny mound of new-turned loam.
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:09 min read
- 125 Views
Quick analysis:
Scheme | AXAXBCBC DEDEFCFC GHGHIJIJ KXKXACXC |
---|---|
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,086 |
Words | 222 |
Stanzas | 4 |
Stanza Lengths | 8, 8, 8, 8 |
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"The Home-Coming" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 8 Jun 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/32556/the-home-coming>.
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