Poems (Odom)/To My Father

For works with similar titles, see To My Father.

TO MY FATHER. ON HIS BIRTHDAY.

Written while a child at school.

I greet thee, father, with delight,
On this, thy natal day,
And thank the God, that spares thee still,
To guard me on life's way.
Without thee, joy would not be joy;
Ah! life would have no charms,
If I could never more find rest
In thy paternal arms.

The hand of time upon thy head
Is sprinkling hoary hair,
The furrows deep upon thy brow
Too truly tell of care.
But memory still in gladness turns
To some bright, happy hours,
When o'er thy pathway sweetly bloomed
Love's gayly tinted flowers;

When in the rosy dawn of youth,
Thy loved one at thy side,
She stood beneath the orange bower
Thy newly plighted bride.
Yes, tho' time's frost is on thy head,
His furrows on thy brow,
The love that warmed thy young heart then
Burns there as brightly now.

Tho' many years may flee away,
Tho' sorrows o'er thee roll,
Still will the love-chords struck in youth
Vibrate upon the soul.
Life's sunny side has passed, and now,
Thou gazest on the plain
That rolls afar beyond thine eye
To endless joy or pain.

But though thy sun of mirth be set,
No more to gild thy way,
May gentle beams of holy peace
Light thy declining day.
May clouds ne'er hover o'er thy head,
Thy sky be clear and mild,
Shall be the true and constant prayer
Of thy devoted child.

S. F. College, February 1, 1858,