Willie, we have missed you

Oh! Willie is it you, dear,

Safe, safe at home?

They did not tell me true, dear;

They said you would not come.

I heard you at the gate,

And it made my heart rejoice;

For I knew that welcome footstep

And that dear, familiar voice,

Making music on my ear

In the lonely midnight gloom:

Oh! Willie, we have missed you;

Welcome, welcome home!

We've longed to see you nightly,

But this night of all;

The fire was blazing brightly

And lights were in the hall.

The little ones were up

Till 'twas ten o'clock and past,

Then their eyes began to twinkle,

And they've gone to sleep at last;

But they listened for your voice

Till they thought you'd never come;

Oh! Willie, we have missed you;

Welcome, welcome home!

The days were sad without you,

The nights long and drear;

My dreams have been about you;

Oh! welcome, Willie dear!

Last night I wept and watched

By the moonlights cheerless ray,

Till I thought I heard your footstep,

The I wiped my tears away;

But my heart grew sad again

When I found you had not come;

Oh! Willie, we have missed you;

Welcome, welcome home!