Poems (Rice)/To my Absent Husband

by Maria Theresa Rice

TO MY ABSENT HUSBAND.

MY home—how desolate to-night
 The parlor and the hall!
Alas! I do believe my heart
 More desolate than all;
For everything I try to do
 Seems useless, just like play,
And everything perplexes, too,
 When, dearest, you're away.

The neighbors call; I smile and talk,
 And while away the hours,
And sometimes, too, I listless walk
 Alone amid the flowers;
I take my work and try to sew,
 But as I said before,
Tis all in vain, for you must know
 I miss you more and more.

Last night in dreams I gathered flowers,
 And bound them for your sake;
The world seemed like Elysian bowers—
 How dreadful to awake,
And mope through a long autumn day;
 A blank you know I call
The time I spend when you're away,
 And this is not quite all:

There's no one calls me beautiful,
 My mirror's silent, too;
How strange this great discovery
 Should have been made by you!
Excuse me, dearest, if I doubt
 Your taste so very pure;
The beautiful I can't find out—
 'Tis very strange, I'm sure.

The world is full of mystery,
 And O! this love is one;
Its strange and wondrous history
 Is scarcely yet begun.
All that we love is beautiful,
 Experience teaches this;
The simplest thing sometimes has caused
 Me ecstasy of bliss.

Now as I wander round, and view
 Each gift, however small
Or trifling, if twas brought by you,
 What joy does it recall!
And every tender word and tone,
 Which did my bosom thrill
Long years ago, now I'm alone,
 They make me happy still.

For with a generous heart and hand
 The fairest gifts you strew
Around my home, from sea and land—
 What more can mortal do?
It always makes me feel that I
 Can never half repay
The many kindnesses, my love,
 You scatter o'er my way.

How many hours of happiness
 There are in this brief life,
To those who truly realize
 The sacred name of wife!
Now, dearest, you will smile to see
 I've tried to poetize;
When you return, our home will be
 An earthly paradise.