There 's an old, old quilt a dear old quilt
A warm old quilt, at home,
As near and dear to my heart to-day
As when I began to roam ;
It covered the new-born baby :
It covered the solemn dead :
It covered me up when I was a boy,
Asleep on Grandmother's bed.
Of patches 't is made, and quaint old pieces
Of Grandmother's dresses are seen ;
And pieces from gowns of her sisters and nieces,
In yellow, and red and green.
There are pieces of silk O, the rare old silk !
And reds ah ! the rare old reds !
And bits of satin as white as milk,
In the quilt on Grand-ma's bed.
There are patterns, odd, that have n't been seen
Since Jaques Cartier was here ;
There are patterns you 'd think that could n't have been-
So comical, quaint and queer.
This is the dress my Grandmother wore,
When she welcomed the heroes who bled
At Queenston Heights : here 's a piece, you see,
In the quilt on Grandmother's bed.
But the patch I love, the dearest of all,
Is a glittering patch of white ;
I never can see it with out a pang
Yet mixed with a strange delight.
'T is a piece of the gown that my Mother wore,
When she to the altar was led ;
It 's the sweetest patch of them all, I think,
In the quilt on Grandmother's bed.
'T was Grandmother's bed it 's Mother's bed ;
And Grand-ma's long gone home :
She called me and kissed me before she died,
And warned me never to roam.
One wish I would to my friends bequeath,
When I my race have sped :
Just lay me down for an hour beneath
The quilt on Grandmother's bed.j