THE SWALLOW. 



197 



Imitated: — 



From childhood gay, from childliood gay, 



E'er breathes to me a strain, 

 How far the day, how far the day 



Which ne'er may come again ! 



And is her song, and is her song — 

 She who brings back the spring, 

 The hamlet touching with her wing, the hamlet touching with her wing — 

 Is it true what she doth sing ? 



" When I set forth, when I set forth, 



Both barn and chest were brimming o'er ; 

 When I came back, when I came back, 

 I found a piteous lack of store." 



Oh, my own home, so dearly loved. 



Kind Heaven grant that I may kneel 

 Again upon thy sacred hearth. 



While dreams the happy past reveal ! 



The swallow surely will return, 



Cotfer and barn will brim once more ; 

 Tut blank remains the heart, empty the heart remains. 

 And none may the lost restore ! 



The swallow skims through the hamlet. 



She sings as she sang of yore : — 

 " When I set out, when I set out, \ 



Both barn and chest were brimming o'er ; 1 , 



When I came back, when 1 came back, v 



I found a piteous lack of store." 



