The Home-Coming
When this blast is over-blown,
And the beacon fires shall burn
And in the street
Is the sound of feet –
They also shall return.
When the bells shall rock and ring,
When the flags shall flutter free,
And the choirs shall sing,
‘God save our King’ –
They shall be there to see.
When the brazen bands shall play,
And the silver trumpets blow,
And the soldiers come
To the tuck of drum –
They shall be there also.
When that which was lost is found;
When each shall have claimed his kin,
Fear not they shall miss
Mother's clasp, maiden's kiss –
For no strange soil might hold them in.
When Te Deums seek the skies,
When the Organ shakes the Dome,
A dead man shall stand
At each live man's hand –
For they also have come home.