Stay, stay at home, my heart, and rest;
Home-keeping hearts are happiest,
For those that wander they know not where
Are full of trouble and full of care;
To stay at home is best.
Weary and homesick and distressed,
They wander east, they wander west,
And are baffled and beaten and blown about
By the winds of the wilderness of doubt;
To stay at home is best.
Then stay at home, my heart, and rest;
The bird is safest in its nest;
O'er all that flutter their wings and fly
A hawk is hovering in the sky;
To stay at home is best.
More verses by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
- The Hemlock Tree. (From The German)
- Voices Of The Night : Footsteps Of Angels
- The Masque Of Pandora
- Earlier Poems : Burial Of The Minnisink
- To The River Yvette. (Birds Of Passage. Flight The Fifth)