Going East.

She came from the East a fair, young bride,          With a light and a bounding heart,      To find in the distant West a home          With her husband to make a start.      He builded his cabin far away,          Where the prairie flower bloomed wild;      Her love made lighter all his toil,          And joy and hope around him smiled.      She plied her hands to life's homely tasks,          And helped to build his fortunes up;      While joy and grief, like bitter and sweet,          Were mingled and mixed in her cup.      He sowed in his fields of golden grain,          All the strength of his manly prime;      Nor music of birds, nor brooks, nor bees,          Was as sweet as the dollar's chime.      She toiled and waited through weary years          For the fortune that came at length;      But toil and care and hope deferred,          Had stolen and wasted her strength.      The cabin changed to a stately home,          Rich carpets were hushing her tread;      But light was fading from her eye,          And the bloom from her cheek had fled.      Slower and heavier grew her step,          While his gold and his gains increased;      But his proud domain had not the charm          Of her humble home in the East.      Within her eye was a restless light,          And a yearning that never ceased,      A longing to see the dear old home          She had left in the distant East.      A longing to clasp her mother's hand,          And nestle close to her heart,      And to feel the heavy cares of life          Like the sun-kissed shadows depart.      Her husband was adding field to field,          And new wealth to his golden store;      And little thought the shadow of death          Was entering in at his door.      He had no line to sound the depths          Of her tears repressed and unshed;      Nor dreamed 'mid plenty a human heart          Could be starving, but not for bread.      The hungry heart was stilled at last;          Its restless, baffled yearning ceased.      A lonely man sat by the bier          Of a corpse that was going East.