THE SEEKER

I SOUGHT for my happiness over the world, Oh, eager and far was my quest; I sought it on mountain and desert and sea, I asked it of east and of west. I sought it in beautiful cities of men, On shores that were sunny and blue, And laughter and lyric and pleasure were mine In palaces wondrous to view; Oh, the world gave me much to my plea and my prayer But never I found aught of happiness there!

Then I took my way back to a valley of old And a little brown house by a rill,

Where the winds piped all day in the sentinel firs That guarded the crest of the hill;

I went by the path that my childhood had known Through the bracken and up by the glen,

And I paused at the gate of the garden to drink

The scent of sweet-briar again; The homelight shone out through the dusk as of yore

And happiness waited for me at the door!

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