| Hunt and Lee, comps. The Book of the Sonnet. 1867. | | | | VII. Domestic Love | | By Park Benjamin (1809–1864) |
| | | WHEN those we love are present to the sight, | |
| When those we love hear fond affection’s words, | |
| The heart is cheerful, as in morning light | |
| The merry song of early-wakened birds: | |
| And, oh! the atmosphere of home—how bright | 5 |
| It floats around us, when we sit together | |
| Under a bower of vine in summer weather, | |
| Or round the hearthstone on a winter’s night! | |
| This is a picture not by Fancy drawn:— | |
| The eve of life contrasted with its dawn; | 10 |
| A gray-haired man,—a girl with sunny eyes; | |
| He seems to speak, and, laughing, she replies: | |
| While father, mother, brothers smile to see | |
| How fair their rosebud blooms beneath the parent tree! | | | | |
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