"The House that Once was Blessed of Thee"

The House that Once was Blessed of Thee"

Is this the house that once was blessed of thee?

        I know the pattern of the papered walls,

        And how this window opens on the sea;

Familiar is the shape of rooms and halls;

The latches to my touch yield readily;

        I know the gold that from the sunset falls

        Athwart the sunken floor; and can it be

I know the bird of storm that shrilly calls

From yonder crystal-beaded wave? . . . Is this

        The porch where, on a perfume-shaken night,

        We watched the moon rise, languorous and white,

Thro’ purple passion stars of clematis—

        When first I yielded to love’s strong delight

        And trembled to thy arms, thy breast, thy kiss?

"The House that Once was Blessed of Thee" as it appears in Ella Higginson's The Voice of April-Land (1903).

A draft of "The House that Once was Blessed of Thee" on onionskin paper, courtesy of the Ella Higginson Papers, Center for Pacific Northwest Studies, Heritage Resources, Western Washington University, Bellingham WA.