Dreaming of the Old Home (Richard Abel Kinzie)

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• (Posted 2023-11-06)  CPDL #76991:     

Editor: David Anderson (submitted 2023-11-06).   Score information: Letter, 8 pages, 389 kB   Copyright: Personal

Edition notes:

General Information

Title: Dreaming of the Old Home
Composer: Richard Abel Kinzie
Lyricist: Anonymous
Number of voices: 4vv   Voicing: SATB
Genre: Secular, Partsong

Language: English
Instruments: A cappella

First published: 1874 J. C. Crandall
Description: 

Original text and translations

English text

Ah, here it is, that dear old place,
Unchanged thro’ all these years;
How like some sweet familiar face
My childhood’s home appears!
The grand old trees beside the door
Still spread their branches wide,
The river wanders as of yore,
With sweetly murmuring tide;
The distant hills look green and gray,
The flowers are blooming wild,
And every thing looks glad today,
As when I was a child.

Regardless how the years have flown,
Half wondering I stand,
I catch no fond, endearing tone,
I clasp no friendly hand,
I think my Mother’s smiles to meet,
I lisp my Father’s call,
I pause to hear my Brother’s feet
Come bounding through the hall;
But silence all around me reigns,
A chill creeps through my heart—
No trace of those we love remains,
And tears forbidden start.

What though the sunbeams fall as fair,
What though the flowing, flowers
Still shed their fragrance on the air,
Within life’s golden hours?
The loving ones that clustered here
These walls may not restore;
Voices that filled my youthful ear
Will greet my soul no more.
And yet I quit that dear old place
With slow and lingering tread,
From which each dear familiar face
Forevermore has fled.