The Consolation

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1. Though bleak these woods, and damp the ground
2. With fallen leaves so thickly strown,
3. And cold the wind that wanders round
4. With wild and melancholy moan;
5.  
6. There IS a friendly roof, I know,
7. Might shield me from the wintry blast;
8. There is a fire, whose ruddy glow
9. Will cheer me for my wanderings past.
10.  
11. And so, though still, where'er I go,
12. Cold stranger-glances meet my eye;
13. Though, when my spirit sinks in woe,
14. Unheeded swells the unbidden sigh;
15.  
16. Though solitude, endured too long,
17. Bids youthful joys too soon decay,
18. Makes mirth a stranger to my tongue,
19. And overclouds my noon of day;
20.  
21. When kindly thoughts that would have way,
22. Flow back discouraged to my breast;
23. I know there is, though far away,
24. A home where heart and soul may rest.
25.  
26. Warm hands are there, that, clasped in mine,
27. The warmer heart will not belie;
28. While mirth, and truth, and friendship shine
29. In smiling lip and earnest eye.
30.  
31. The ice that gathers round my heart
32. May there be thawed; and sweetly, then,
33. The joys of youth, that now depart,
34. Will come to cheer my soul again.
35.  
36. Though far I roam, that thought shall be
37. My hope, my comfort, everywhere;
38. While such a home remains to me,
39. My heart shall never know despair!