CLAPHAM COMMON

THE LAMPLIT HOUR

Dusk—and the lights of home

Smile through the rain:

A thousand smiles for those that come

Homeward again.

What though the night be drear

With gloom and cold,

So that there be one voice to hear,

One hand to hold?

Here, by the winter fire,

Life is our own.

Here, out of murk and mire,

Here is our throne.

Then let the wild world throng

To pomp and power;

And let us fill with love and song

The lamplit hour.