Family Ties

By Allie J. Hilder

These are the happy years when we are bound
Close to the hearts of those we love so well;
When yellow lamp-light gathers children round
To hear the stories Grandma loves to tell.

These are the precious days when family ties
Have strung the olden moments on a chain,
As lovely as the drenched red rose that lies
Beneath the slanting sheets of silver rain.

This is the family gathered in the glow
Of peaceful home-fires ever burning bright,
Where laughter falls like gently powdered snow
Upon the landscape of the soul’s delight.

God, keep the yellow lamp-light in the room,
The tiny nose pressed near the window-pane;
The crickets calling loudly to the moon,
The wind-blown roses growing in the lane.

And keep the family safe, and hold them fast
Within these walls; guard all their hopes and fears,
Make each new moment dearer than the last —
In these … the family years.

(1954)