I"m back at home. My dear land
Is pensive, spreading all around!
The twilight waves its snow-white hand
To greet me from beyond the mound.
The grizzle of the gloomy day
Is floating by over my home, and
The evening fills me with dismay
Like insurmountable torment.
Above the church, over the dome,
The sunset shade has fallen down.
My dear friends, I"m back at home,
And won"t be seeing you around.
The years have flown like a whirl,
And where are you, my friends, I wonder?
All I can hear is the purl
Of water by the mill-house yonder.
And often, sitting by the hearth,
To sound of sedge crack, or whatever,
I pray to steaming mother earth
For those who"re gone and lost for ever.