The Welcome

Thomas Osborne Davis (1814–1845)

COME in the evening, or come in the morning;

Come when you ’re looked for or come without warning;

Kisses and welcome you ’ll find here before you,

And the oftener you come here the more I ’ll adore you!

Light is my heart since the day we were plighted;

Red is my cheek that they told me was blighted;

The green of the trees looks far greener than ever,

And the linnets are singing, “True lovers don’t sever!”

I ’ll pull you sweet flowers, to wear if you choose them!

Or, after you ’ve kissed them, they ’ll lie on my bosom;

I ’ll fetch from the mountain its breeze to inspire you;

I ’ll fetch from my fancy a tale that won’t tire you.

O, your step ’s like the rain to the summer-vexed farmer,

Or sabre and shield to a knight without armor;

I ’ll sing you sweet songs till the stars rise above me,

Then, wandering, I ’ll wish you in silence to love me.

We ’ll look through the trees at the cliff and the eyrie;

We ’ll tread round the rath on the track of the fairy;

We ’ll look on the stars, and we ’ll list to the river,

Till you ask of your darling what gift you can give her.

O, she ’ll whisper you, “Love, as unchangeably beaming,

And trust, when in secret, most tunefully streaming;

Till the starlight of heaven above us shall quiver.

As our souls flow in one down eternity’s river.”