Home For Love



Because the earth is vast and dark
And wet and cold;
Because man's heart wants warmth and light
Lest it grow old;

Therefore the house was built--wall, roof
And brick and beam,
By a lost hand following the lost
Delight of a dream,

And room and stair show how that hand
Groped in eager doubt,
With needless weight of teasing timber
Matching his thought--

Such fond superfluousness of strength
In wall and wood
As his half-wise, half-fearful eye
Deemed only good.

His brain he built into the house,
Laboured his bones;
He burnt his heart into the brick
And red hearth-stones.

It is his blood that makes the house
Still warm, safe, bright,
Honest as aim and eye and hand,
As clean, as light.

Because the earth is vast and dark
The house was built--
Now with another heart and fire
To be fulfilled.

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

44 sec read
40

Quick analysis:

Scheme Abcb xdxd exfx xgxg hixi hcec Axfx
Closest metre Iambic trimeter
Characters 774
Words 146
Stanzas 7
Stanza Lengths 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4

John Freeman

John Frederick Freeman (29 January 1880 – 23 September 1929) was an English poet and essayist, who gave up a successful career in insurance to write full-time. more…

All John Freeman poems | John Freeman Books

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