My Dear Old Home

Nestling round the hillsides,
Or in the vales between,
Spire and home and cottage
Among the evergreen.

Fair scene of rippling brook,
Ravine and shady glen,
Where the birds' bright melody
In sweetest cadence blend.

You may roam thro' strange lands,
Such beauty's rarely seen,
As picturesque Port Hope,
Bedecked in evergreen.

Around such scenes so fair,
Sweet memories cluster ever,
Which ne'er can be effaced - 
Nor time nor distance sever.

Thus to that one bright spot,
As needle to the pole,
My heart forever turns
Toward its truest goal.

So, when at eventide,
Life's close of day has come,
There lay me down to rest
In that - my dear old home.

Poem by Joseph Hooper who died in
Rochester, NY and was buried in
Mount Hope Cemetery there.