THE WANDERER
My native land, on thy sweet shore
Lighter heaves the breast;
Could I visit thee once more,
How I should be blest!
Heart so anxious and so pained,
Fitting is thy woe;
My native land, what have I gained
By wandering from thee so?
Fresher green bedecks thy fields,
Fairer blue thy skies;
Sweeter shade thy forest yields,
Thy dews have brighter dies.
Thy Sabbath bells a sweeter note,
Echo far and near;
The nightingale’s melodious throat,
Sweeter thrills the ear.
Softer flow thy lavish streams
Through the meadow’s bloom;
Ah! How bright the wanderer’s dreams
‘Neath thy linden’s gloom!
Fair thy sun that flings around
Genial light and heat.
To my father’s household gate
Let me bend my feet;
There, forgetting all the past,
I will rest in peace at last!