THE SWALLOW. 



197 



Imitated: 



From childhood gay, from childhood 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, 



Coffer and barn will brim once more ; 

 F.ut 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 ; 

 When I came back, when I came back, 



I found a piteous lack of store." 



