The light of home (George J. Webb)

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• (Posted 2024-02-21)  CPDL #79216:     

Editor: David Anderson (submitted 2024-02-21).   Score information: Letter, 8 pages, 420 kB   Copyright: Personal

Edition notes:

General Information

Title: The light of home
Composer: George J. Webb
Lyricist: Sarah Josepha Buell Hale
Number of voices: 4vv   Voicing: SATB
Genre: Secular, Partsong

Language: English
Instruments: A cappella

First published: 1843 J. H. Wilkins and R. B. Carter
Description: 

Original text and translations

English text

My boy, thou wilt dream the world is fair,
And thy spirit will sigh to roam:
And thou must go; but never, when there,
Forget the light of home.

Though pleasure may smile with a ray more bright,
It dazzles to lead astray:
Like the meteor’s flash, ’twill deepen the night
When thou treadest the lonely way.

But the hearth of home has a constant flame,
And pure as vestal fire:
’Twill burn, ‘twill burn, for ever the same,
For nature feeds the pyre.

The sea of ambition is tempest-tost,
And thy hopes may vanish like foam;
But when sails are shiver’d, and rudder lost,
Then look to the light of home;

The sun of fame, ’twill gild the name;
But the heart ne’er felt its ray;
And fashion’s smiles, that rich ones claim,
Are but beams of a wintry day.

And how cold and dim those beams must be,
To him that is doomed to roam;
But, my boy, when the world is dark to thee,
Then turn to the light of home.