A Home Song

I read within a poet's book

     A word that starred the page:

"Stone walls do not a prison make,

     Nor iron bars a cage!"

Yes, that is true; and something more

    You'll find, where'er you roam,

That marble floors and gilded walls

    Can never make a home.

But every house where Love abides,

     And Friendship is a guest,

Is surely home, and home-sweet-home:

     For there the heart can rest.