WHEN I come back in the gloom
To my lighted house once more
My heart says, 'Haste tonight!
There is something you do not know,
Something to give you joy,
On the other side of the door
There in the firelight's glow,
There in the lighted room.'

My quick heart whispers me,
'The kinsman gone oversea,
The one they have always said
Would surely come back some day,
Waits for you, brown, windblown . . .
Or the lover you have not known
Is waiting you there tonight–
Do you wonder that I rejoice?
Or the dearest one of the dead
Waits in the ring of light
With the old glad face and voice
As if he were never away . . .
Hasten!' my heart has said.

But when I open the door
There are only the old lights
And the old accustomed faces
And the firelight on the floor. . . .