My Pioneer Home In Kansas

I am weary and must go
For my mind it seems to stray,
Back again to boyhood’s home
On the prairie far away.
Where barefoot I rambled far
List’ning for old Brindle’s bell,
And then slowly brought the cows
As the twilight shadows fell.
None but those who once have dwelt
Where the prairies stretch away,
From the pioneer’s new home,
E’er can feel as I today.
How I long to see the flowers
Nature planted for me there,
And to hear the larks sweet song
Swell out on the balmy air.
Then at evening from the fields
O’er our cabin to their nests,
Swift the prairie chickens flew
Without hunters to molest.
And at noon “Bob White” would ring
Sharply on the summer air,
To be echoed by a boy
Listening with rapture there.
And in Autumn, Oh! how oft
Have I watched the prairie fire
From our cabin home at night.
Yet I never seemed to tire,
Watched until it spread away;
Over hills and vales and mounds,
‘Till the line of fire seemed but
Musketry of battle grounds.
Take me back—yes, take me back,
To the cabin on the wild,
To my trundle bed once more,
Where I slept when but a child.
Take me to my cabin home
‘Mong the blue stem far away,
Out upon the prairies wild
To my Kansas home today.