MY DEAR WIFE!
Dreams of fame and grandeur
End in bitter tears;
TRUE LOVE grows the fonder
by the lapse of years.
Time, and change, and troubles,
Meaner ties unbind;
But the love redoubles
True affection twined.

Your Affectionate Husband,
(signed) Wm J. Goodwin

(1)
The
Hour was
Sad I left my wife.
A ling'ring farewell taking.
Her sighs and tears my steps
Delayed I thought her heart
Was breaking; in hurried words
Her name I blessed, I breathed the
Vows that bind me, and to my hear
In anguish pressed the wife I left behind me.

(2)
Then
To the South
We bore away to
Win a name in story,
And there where dawns the
Sun of day, there dawned our
Sun of glory; both blazed in noon
On Freedoms' height, where, in the
Post assigned me, and I shared the
Glory of that fight, sweet wife I left behind me.

(3)
Full
Many a
Name our banners
Bore, of former deeds
Of daring; but those were
Days of seventy-six, in which
We had no sharing; but now our
Laurels, freshly won, with the old ones
Shall entwined be, still worthy of our
Sires' each son, dear wife, that I left behind me.

(4)
The
Hope of
Final victory,
Within my boson
Burning, is mingled with
Sweet thoughts of thee, and
Of my fond returning; but should
I ne'er return again, still worth thy
Love thou'lt find me, dishonored breath
Shall never stain the name I leave behind me.


When on thy bosom I recline,
Enraptured still to call the mine
To call the mine for life
I glory in the sacred ties,
Which modern wits and fools despise,
Of husband and wife.

Have I a wish, 'tis all for thee;
Hast thou a wish, 'tis all for me.
So soft our moments move
That angels look, with ardent gaze,
Well pleased to see our happy days,
And bid us live and love.