My home is so glad, my heart is so light, <br />My wandering boy has returned top;night. <br />He is blighted and bruised, I know, by sin, <br />But I am so glad to welcome him in. <br /> <br />The child of my tenderest love and care <br />Has broken away from the tempter's snare; <br />tonight my heart is o'erflowing with joy, <br />I have found again my wandering boy. <br /> <br />My heart has been wrung with a thousand fears, <br />Mine eyes have been drenched with the bitterest tears; <br />Like shadows that fade are my past alarms, <br />My boy is enclasped in his mother's arms. <br /> <br />The streets were not safe for my darling child; <br />Where sin with its evil attractions smiled. <br />But his wandering feet have ceased to roam, <br />And tonight my wayward boy is at home. <br /> <br />At home with the mother that loves him best, <br />With the hearts that have ached with sad unrest, <br />With the hearts that are thrilling with untold joy <br />Because we have found our wandering boy. <br /> <br />In that wretched man so haggard and wild <br />I only behold my returning child, <br />And the blissful tears from my eyes that start <br />Are the overflow of a happy heart. <br /> <br />I have trodden the streets in lonely grief, <br />I have sought in prayer for my sole relief; <br />But the depths of my heart tonight are stirred, <br />I know that the mother's prayer has been heard. <br /> <br />If the mother-love be so strong and great <br />For her child, sin-weary and desolate, <br />Oh what must the love of the Father be <br />For souls who have wandered like you and me!<br /><br />Frances Ellen Watkins Harper<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/wanderer-s-return/
