The Old Sittin’ Room

How dear to our hearts was the old sittin’ room

Where we all used to go at the night’s early gloom;

Where the logs threw a glow on the faces of all

An’ the light danced with glee on the old fashioned wall.

Was the wind callin’ loud thro’ the tall ellum boughs,

Was the rain beatin’ hard on the sides of the house,

We were snug as can be did the storm fret an’ fume,

In the light and the cheer of that old sittin’ room.

There was grandfather’s face smilin’ down from the wall,

And grandmother’s too, just the kindest of all;

And the old family bible on the stand by the door,

With its records we’d thumbed half a hundred times o’er.

And the organ round which we would gather each night,

In the singin’ of hymns for our parents’ delight.

How I lone for it now in the city’s great tomb,

For the light and the cheer of that old sittin’ room.

Dec. 8, ‘04

                   ellum - elm