Classic Poem

The Place of our Birth

Oh! where is a spot like the one where our eye
First opened its light to the rays from on high?—
Where our earliest days have been spent, and where one
Has fluttered in youth, like a fly in the sun.

'Tis there bosoms beat for us, warm and sincere,
Where Hypocrisy's wide spreading root can't appear,
Where Envy and Malice decay as they rise,
And Affection's fond beacon enlightens the eyes.

There's a feeling which rouses the slothfulest heart,
When compelled from his own native valley to part;
There are sighs heaved in silence, when no one is near,
And a Grief that is washed by Reflection's salt tear.

But, though Fortune allure me away by its smile,
May my heart rooted there still remain in that soil;
May my soul hover still o'er the place of my Birth,
As a spot more delightful than any on earth.English