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A Mary T. Hoffman Commentary from All-Creatures.org

 

"Joyful Curmudgeon" An oxymoron?
No! I see all the beauty of God's creation and I'm joyful.  At the same time, I see all the suffering and corruption going on in the world, and feel called to help expose and end it so that we may have true peace and compassion.

 


HOME, SWEET HOME! – 5 March 2008
By Mary T. Hoffman

John Howard Payne, an American actor and playwright who was born 9 June 1791 in New York City, wrote the words to the song “Home, Sweet Home!” as part of an opera which he adapted from the play “Clari, or the Maid of Milan.” Although he wrote several plays, Payne is mainly remembered for “Home, Sweet Home!” written in 1822.

From 1842 to 1845, and again from 1851 until his death 10 April 1852, Payne was United States Consul at Tunis in Africa. In 1883 Payne’s body was brought back to the United States and buried in Washington, D.C. During the ceremony a choir of a thousand voices sang “Home, Sweet Home!”

I found these words in an old book of American poetry copyrighted in 1917:

HOME, SWEET HOME!
By John Howard Payne
(9 June 1791 - 10 April 1852)

Mid pleasures and palaces though we may roam,
Be it ever so humble, there’s no place like home;
A charm from the sky seems to hallow us there,
Which, seek through the world, is ne’er met with elsewhere.
Home, Home, sweet, sweet Home!
There’s no place like Home! there’s no place like Home!

An exile from home, splendor dazzles in vain;
O, give me my lowly thatched cottage again!
The birds singing gayly, that came at my call, –
Give me them, – and the peace of mind, dearer than all!
Home, Home, sweet, sweet Home!
There’s no place like Home! there’s no place like Home!

How sweet ’tis to sit ’neath a fond father’s smile,
And the cares of a mother to soothe and beguile!
Let others delight mid new pleasures to roam,
But give me, oh, give me, the pleasures of home!
Home, Home, sweet, sweet Home!
There’s no place like Home! there’s no place like Home!

To thee I’ll return, overburdened with care;
The heart’s dearest solace will smile on me there;
No more from that cottage again will I roam;
Be it ever so humble, there’s no place like home.
Home, Home, sweet, sweet Home!
There’s no place like Home! there’s no place like Home!

For a collection of poems and stories, visit:
http://www.all-creatures.org/poetrydir.html

Go on to: A Perfect Day – 6 March 2008
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