English Poetry. Ella Wheeler Wilcox. My Home. Элла Уилкокс.

Ella Wheeler Wilcox (Элла Уилкокс)

My Home

This is the place that I love the best, 
A little brown house, like a ground-bird’s nest, 
Hid among grasses, and vines, and trees, 
Summer retreat of the birds and bees.

The tenderest light that ever was seen 
Sifts through the vine-made window screen-- 
Sifts and quivers, and flits and falls 
On home-made carpets and gray-hung walls.

All through June the west wind free 
The breath of clover brings to me. 
All through the languid July day 
I catch the scent of new-mown hay.

The morning-glories and scarlet vine 
Over the doorway twist and twine; 
And every day, when the house is still, 
The humming-bird comes to the window-sill.

In the cunningest chamber under the sun 
I sink to sleep when the day is done; 
And am waked at morn, in my snow-white bed, 
By a singing bird on the roof o’erhead.

Better than treasures brought from Rome, 
Are the living pictures I see at home-- 
My aged father, with frosted hair, 
And mother’s face, like a painting rare.

Far from the city’s dust and heat, 
I get but sounds and odors sweet. 
Who can wonder I love to stay, 
Week after week, here hidden away, 
In this sly nook that I love the best-- 
This little brown house like a ground-bird’s nest?

Ella Wheeler Wilcox’s other poems:

1. The Phantom Ball
2. The Giddy Girl
3. The Awakening (I love the tropics, where sun and rain)
4. The Bed
5. The Plow of God

1037

To the dedicated English version of this website

---