Henry Van Dyke

A Home Song

I read within a poet’s book 
A word that starred the page:
”Stone walls do not a prison make, 
Nor iron bars a cage!” 

Yes, that is true; and something more
You’ll find, where’er you roam,
That marble floors and gilded walls
Can never make a home. 

But every house where Love abides,
And Friendship is a guest,
Is surely home, and home-sweet-home:
For there the heart can rest.