English Poems Index


Home and Love :


Just Home and Love! the words are small

Four little letters unto each;

And yet you will not find in all

The wide and gracious range of speech

Two more so tenderly complete:

When angels talk in Heaven above,

I'm sure they have no words more sweet

Than Home and Love.



Just Home and Love! it's hard to guess

Which of the two were best to gain;

Home without Love is bitterness;

Love without Home is often pain.

No! each alone will seldom do;

Somehow they travel hand and glove:

If you win one you must have two,

Both Home and Love.



And if you've both, well then I'm sure

You ought to sing the whole day long;

It doesn't matter if you're poor

With these to make divine your song.

And so I praisefully repeat,

When angels talk in Heaven above,

There are no words more simply sweet

Than Home and Love.



By Robert William Service



About The Poet :

Robert William Service (1874-1958) was born in Preston - England. His father was a banker and Robert became a banker too, at the age of 15! In 1896 he emigrated to Canada and then moved to California. Some years later, while living in the Yukon, he was inspired to write poems. He wrote and wrote and found a publisher who liked his poetry. His first book of poems Songs of a Sourdough was published in 1908. The poem Home and Love is from a collection called Rhymes of a Rolling Stone. The title summed up Service's life. He loved travelling. Robert Service died in 1958. He was honoured in 1976 on a Canadian postage stamp.



Words to Know :

Divine : heavenly, connected with, coming from or caused by God

Gracious : luxurious and elegant, kind, courteous

Hand and glove : in close cooperation

Unto : to (an old-fashioned word)