Page:Home; or, The unlost paradise (IA homeorunlostpara00palm).pdf/86

  Dear old Thanksgiving! How the hallowed word
Restores, as in a moment, vanished years!
How back to life the honored dead it calls,
Whose hoary heads and venerable forms
The bounteous board of old were wont to grace!
They seem to come and sit and smile again,
And with their children's children share the joy.
How brothers, sisters, all companions dear
Of life's unclouded morn, together flow
From regions wide remote, and young again,
At least in heart, renew the scenes of yore!
This from the crowded city; that from where
The Prairie's naked bosom tempts the plough;
Perchance another, from beyond the flood
Where Mississippi pours his torrent down,
Or from fair Florida, beneath whose skies
Magnolias spotless open all their charms,
And orange blossoms scent the tranquil air.
But come they whenceso'er, they come to prove
Unlost, unweakened, the old love of Home.
Joy! Joy! Thanksgiving, that o'er all the land,
To-day a Nation's benison thou art.