Is this an evening to forget,
When boyish eyes dare not be wet,
And evening, come so fast, goes yet
So slow?

When all’s prepared the family stand,
As guarded hope and prompting hand
Suggest that to a hostile land
I go.

The refuge of a hallowed smile
Is briefly shared, and left awhile,
Can I preserve with every mile
Its glow?

Obedient, I detain my fears
Of dark nights beyond alien piers,
But keep a thought that safer tears
Will flow.